Buffy: The Love Goddess
by Joshua The Evil Guy
Summary: The Gods return A BTVS Fanfic. Continues after season finale. Buffy comes back again, but she's not the Slayer anymore.
1. Prologue

The Gods Return: A BTVS Fanfic

The Gods Return:A BTVS Fanfic

In the Beginning, there was God.God created the Heavens and the Earth.On the Earth, He created and flourished a beautiful and amazing Garden.In the Heavens, he created separated levels of Time, Space, Matter, Energy, and Force, called **Realms**.These Realms are separate from each other, yet are connected through their own access to Heaven.Then came the day that Satan fell from Grace, and Satan took several Lower Realms and the pit of fire beneath the Earth and Heaven and called it Hell.Within it, he separated his own Realms and connected them to the Earth.These are the Demon Dimensions.In Heaven, in one particular Realm, God created three beings.They were given power and responsibility over Matter, Force and Energy of that Realm alone.There was nothing else in that Realm.So the three asked God, their Father for permission to create something of their own within the Realm they had been given.He denied them.He is the only Creator, in Heaven, on the Earth, and even above Hell.So they asked for permission to use places, creatures and people from other Realms that had little or no use of them.He agreed to this, but he set the condition that there may be only one type of creature in their Realm and they may make of the place as they willed.They quickly set to work.Yet, when the time came to chose which creature they would let live in their Realm, they could not decide.Then, they saw God's greatest creation of child, yet His greatest disappointment at the same time.Man, or Humans.They begged and pleaded their Father for permission to let Man be the creature in their Realm, and He finally let them, but only if they appointed Guardians to watch over and protect them from temptations, and at some points even themselves.But they were not to hinder with any of the gifts that He had given them, and would further give to them.So the three, with no other option left, had children of their own, and these children were in the image of man, and thus God and had the power and powers of the Angels on high, and so were called gods by the inhabitants.

Creation of ANTON, the 972nd Realm in Heaven—


	2. CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONE

**Disclaimer:**I decided to fix the disclaimer thing, I'm sure that it was annoying a whole lot of people.Well, for my Fanfiction creation entitled "Buffy: The Love Goddess," pretty much all of the characters are based on the television series "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," produced by Joss Whedon and associates, as well as owned and distributed by Warner Brother's television network.The concept of Anton, the character of Joshua the Archangel, are of my own visage, but any to all relation between them and the Buffy characters is entirely fiction devised for the sole purpose of people's enjoyment of Fanfiction.

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**Chapter One**

It really wasn't that tough of a decision.No, it really wasn't.The demon witch doctor, who had been a very loyal Glory supporter, had climbed the tower, while Buffy and the others were distracting the insane demon goddess and her scarred and obnoxiously humble henchmen, he had climbed the tower where Dawn, the Key to all Realms, realities, and dimensions, stood, tied and ready to be bled.He was the one who cut her.Spike, brave and loyal Spike, had done his best to get to her and stop the insane demon, but he despite his bravery and loyalty to the beautiful blonde Slayer, he was not strong enough.And the blood flowed.

Buffy arrived, in the nick of time as they say, only to let five drops, _five drops_, of Dawn's blood drop to the very spot where Glory intended to return to her home Realm, the Demon Dimension that she ruled with an insane manicured fist.Glory was dead.The only way for the goddess to die was for her mortal form, which she was trapped within, to die.Giles killed Ben.

Buffy saved her sister, her blood and charge given form, only for the world, the Earth, and all of reality as a whole to still be in danger of being destroyed.Dawn had figured it out.The rift would remain open for as long as she lived, for as long as her blood still flowed through her veins.Buffy had figured it out too.Dawn came from her.Buffy was the only original child of Joyce and Hank Summers, and thus the only template for the monk spell casters to use in sending Dawn to her.Her blood was Dawn's blood, Dawn's blood was her blood.Dawn might have been the Key to opening the dimensional rift, but Buffy's was the key to closing it.

Death was her gift.No, death was not Buffy's gift.Death was the Slayer's gift.The destiny of fighting in the eternal struggle of Light and Dark, of Good and Evil, of always killing the things that went bump in the night, of never letting anyone get close, for fear of them getting hurt.These can weigh on the human soul more than any of guilts and sins of Hell and the world.Death was the release from it.Death was the Slayer's gift.She could now rest.And rest in peace for the world was safe, and saved by her.Buffy could not rest.

Yes, she had saved the world, closed the rift, saved her sister, and made the greatest impact on the world that anyone since Martin Luther King Junior.Buffy could not rest.Because, _death_ was not Buffy's gift.Buffy's gift was to go home.But she could not go home alone.No, she would not, could not go home alone.So Buffy came back.

Everyone was gathered at the base of the awkwardly constructed tower that Glory's henchmen and her insane victims had helped to build.The sun was coming up and Spike was trying desperately to hide in the shade of a crate.Giles, Spike, Xander and Anya, Willow and Tara, and Dawn, coming closer from the stairs, they were all staring at the still and quiet form of one who used to be so full of life and love.

Willow remembered Buffy telling her about the experience the Slayer had had in the desert with her "guide".Buffy had been worried that she was losing contact with reality, with the people she cared about, she was afraid that she had lost her ability to love.The guide had told her that she was full of love.Willow knew it was true.She had felt Buffy's love for her as easily, if not more, as she felt her own love for both her lover, Tara, and her best friend…Buffy.Willow wept.

Tara hadn't known Buffy as well as Willow had, but she knew the woman behind and inside the destined Slayer.Buffy was always so full of love, so caring and loving.Tara smiled at some of the conversations that she remembered having with Buffy.It was almost like they were sisters, or related somehow, but their only relation was through Willow.Still, Tara had known the now dead Slayer, and she had loved her, and had felt love in abundant return.

Xander was crying his eyes out.Anya was on the verge of tears, but mostly because of the state Xander was in.Anya, once Anyanka the Demon of Vengeance, the Woman's scorn, the bearer of the power of the Wish, now normal human Anya, fiancée to one Xander Harris, held by the man she loved, as he cried yet again over the loss of another Summers woman.Anya knew Buffy, but like Tara, mostly through Xander and the fact that he admired and respected her.Anya would miss, terribly miss the blond Slayer.She felt the ache even worse than what she felt when Joyce, Buffy's mother died.Slowly, the tears fell.

Spike was the worst.Out of all of them, he had the least reason to be there, the least reason to be crying over a human, the Vampire Slayer at that, and the least reason for still being alive.He had only one reason for all of that and so much more.He had loved.Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer.He met her when she was 16 years old, and already she could kick his ass.And he was 218 years old.Every time they fought, or danced as he had called it, he felt something more.To the demon that was his human body now, it was foreign and strange.To what was left of his humanity, it was a long forgotten and buried dream.When he could no longer even throw a punch without more pain than even he could stand, the Slayer, the bloody _Vampire Slayer_, took pity on him and showed him a side of her life that as an enemy, he had never seen.The life with her friends.How she cared, respected and loved for them touched that part of him that was still even capable of love, of loving and set a spark to it.It went up brighter than a Roman candle, but lasted far longer.He fell in love with her.It was slow at first, and it didn't take a genius to see it, since it was Dawn, the youngest, who had figured it out first.Buffy was both repulsed and overtly repulsed by the concept, simply because of the man he once was and what remained of the vulgar insensitive vampire.But she respected him, as a person, as a man, and as somebody that loved her.He told her as much.She only smiled in response.

Xander.Alexander Harris.Alexander Leville Harris.It's a stupid name.It's a stupid world that named him.Xander was crying.He didn't think he'd ever be able to stop.'Why?Why?Why!!!' he screamed at the universe.It's not fair!It just isn't fair.This isn't right.Buffy's the hero, she's not supposed to die.She already died at the hands of the Master, and he and Angel had been able to bring her back.It wasn't fair that he couldn't do the same again.Xander cried.Then, he stopped.Something inside him demanded justice.But justice from what?The rift had been opened, and Buffy had jumped in herself, to stop Dawn from being the one who died.So who to seek justice from.Wait, was it justice, or vengeance?No, it was justice, and from what Dawn and Spike had said so far, Xander knew exactly where to get it.

Giles looked up as Xander broke away from Anya and ran into the tower complex, obviously looking for some thing or some one.Giles didn't care.Everyone was right about him, he was a killer, and he knew it.Giles had loved Buffy as he did a daughter, and he felt as if he had just lost that daughter, and spat on her grave.He had killed Ben when Buffy had spared him.He had killed to protect her and the world.No, he had killed because the 'Ripper' in him wanted to lash out at the beast that had tormented Buffy and the double faced friend who had stabbed them all in the back, just to save his own hide.Giles was the only one not crying.He would never cry, at least not in the light of day, nor in the shadows of night.If he would cry, he would cry alone.

One other looked on and cried fresh tears at the sight of the bruised and broken body of the blond Slayer.She had known Buffy the longest out of all of them, but again, she had been with her the least.Dawn, the Key, Buffy's sister, all alone in the world, sank to her knees by Giles, the surrogate father figure in both girls' lives, and wept the longest and hardest of them all.She was alone, as Buffy had been.But as Buffy found out, she still had the others.She told Giles and the others Buffy's final message, and told them all that had happened to her, and how Buffy had looked as she saved Dawn's life, taking the leap for her, and from her.Dawn loved her sister.

Buffy loved her sister.More than enough to give her life for her.More than enough to give everything up for her.More than enough to be her sister.So now that Buffy had done all that, why did she still feel like she could give even more because of the love of her sister.Come to think of it, how could she feel anything at all, or think anything at all.She was dead.She had jumped into the rift, the surges of power had knocked her senseless, unconscious, and supposedly killed her.After that, the five-story drop to the ground should have finished the job.So why was Buffy feeling like she was still alive?

The answer came very shortly to her, as she materialized in a flash of red, pink and gold at the foot of her grave.The dirt couldn't have been a week old, and the ground was undisturbed.It was morning, as far as she could tell.The marker read;

Buffy Anne Summers

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**1981-2001**

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**Beloved sister**

**devoted friend**

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**She saved the World**

**A Lot**

Buffy smiled at the ending personalized statement.She figured Xander must have come up with it.Willow wouldn't have minded, and might've even given a laugh over it.But Buffy knew what this meant.What she didn't understand was why she was here, seeing it.

There were fresh flowers around and in front of the headstone.Some violets, some peach flowers and pink roses, and one black rose, directly over the grass covered grave itself.Right below that was a ring.She immediately recognized it.It was Angel's ring, the ring that he had given to her, the ring that she had given up and that had brought him back from hell, because it represented her love for him.

Suddenly, Buffy sensed something.She turned and saw four people walking towards her, towards the grave.Her heart wept as she saw Dawn, Willow, Tara, and Xander walking side by side.Despite the fact that she desperately wanted to console them, she did not want them to see her, or hear her.She only wanted to watch them, as the ghost she was.

Willow looked up, thinking she had seen someone standing in front of Buffy's grave.For a second, as she had done many, many times in the past two weeks she thought she had seen Buffy.There was a brief flash of pink and red, and then there was nothing.Just the willow tree that Giles had insisted she be buried by, and the lonely grave marker, written with Xander and Dawn's memorial message.She still felt a warmth of a laugh every time she thought about the message, "She saved the world a lot."

She smiled briefly, yet it was only briefly, and Tara held her hand a little tighter.Willow squeezed back, maybe harder than she should have, since she was holding Tara's previously injured hand, getting the cast off only three days ago.

Xander had his arm draped over Dawn's shoulder, both were walking soberly, as they always did when they came to visit Buffy.Dawn sometimes came in the night, to talk with Spike, who rarely ever left the site except for the daytime.Xander came with Anya, and also spoke with Spike.The two, since the tower, had developed something of a repertoire.They no longer hated and despised each other.Rather they resented the other and felt a growing kinship, which expressed itself through often dangerously involved barbs and jibs.

As they came to the gravesite, They each laid one rose, all next to the others at the headstone.Xander, yellow, Dawn, white, Tara, pink, and Willow, blue.The only non-natural rose color.Willow always left an enchanted flower of some kind.Never an ordinary one.The group, sometimes with more, today with only these, came every week, and might've continued doing so, if not for the following events.


	3. CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

**Chapter Two**

"Hey Buffster," Xander said, his arm still around Dawn."How ya doin'?So far I'm glad to see that Spike hasn't done anything to your grave when we aren't here.I honestly don't know why you didn't stake him when…" Xander's voice broke for a second, "…when you had the chance.Anyway, on to cheerier news.Anya and I are getting married.I proposed the night…just before…well, you know…I think I've told you about a dozen times already."

Willow smiled, it was usually her that had trouble getting words and meaning across.Buffy stepped closer to her friends, looking directly at Dawn and Xander.She was listening to every word they said.

"It's kind of nice actually, being engaged.There are a whole bunch of plans to be made, and unfortunately, Giles and I are the ones that have to pay for everything, but whatever makes Anya happy.Fortunate for me, what makes Anya happy turns out to be me most of the time." Xander stopped when Dawn poked him in the ribs and looked him in the eye.Xander only nodded.

"Um, Buffy.I'm not sure how to say this.So, I guess I'll just say it.Anya and I want to adopt Dawn.The school board and just about everybody else in the world wants to put her in an orphanage or a foster family.None of us could let them do that.So, we've all talked and figured this was the best thing that could happen.Nobody can get in contact with your father, so he's pretty much a lost cause."

"What about Giles?" Buffy asked, knowing they couldn't hear her.Tara looked up and in the general direction where Buffy stood, but Buffy didn't notice, all her attention on Xander and Dawn.

"Giles is in a really weird mood." Xander said, as though in response to the unheard question."When the subject of adopting Dawn first came up, we all figured that he might want the job, especially considering the way he feels about the two of you.But when I asked him, he just gave me this funny look and shook his head and said he couldn't.So, the only other option, was for Dawn to become Anya and mine's daughter.We've asked her, and she's agreed.God, I miss you Buffy.Well, I guess I'll sign off now and Dawn can take over."

There were tears in Buffy's eyes and quietly she replied to Xander's statement, "I miss you too Xander.I miss all of you."Then Dawn began to speak.Buffy could tell she was hiding the pain, and she hid it well, as she told Buffy about her week, since she had last visited, and her day, what she learned in school, her plans with living with Xander and Anya, and how she and Anya went on shopping trips that always made Xander groan in pain at the mention.At this Xander demonstrated such.Willow laughed aloud.

"OK, um, I miss you Buffy.I love you too, you know that.And I'm being brave.We all are.I guess its Willow's turn.Willow?" Dawn finished, half turning around Xander to look at the tall redhead.

Willow nodded, and put her arms even tighter around Tara.She tried to speak several times, but nothing seemed to come out."Just say what you're feeling Wills." Buffy told her."I know expressing yourself has never been your strong suit, but you have my permission to babble.I kind of miss it really.You're this cool calm confident powerful wicca, not the shy little hacker girl I once knew.You've grown up and come into your own.So just say what you feel."

Willow suddenly seemed to get more confidence, and Tara had tears in her eyes that were slowly starting to spill over."Hi, hi, hi Buffy.Um, again, I'm sorry I-I couldn't be here for the funeral, but-but I-I j-just couldn't watch them p-put you in-in-in-in…" she stopped and Tara took her hand in hers, giving the young woman strength."Anyway, I was in LA, getting Angel.He, Cordelia, and Wesley, and their friend Gunn all came.They had to bring somebody else, an innocent who needed their help or something, but she was nice.I don't remember her name…"

"Fred." Dawn stated.

"Yeah, Fred." Willow continued."Um, Tara's doing great, her hand healed up great, and the trick I pulled with Glory worked.I got my girl back.I just wish that you could have kept yours."Willow stopped for a minute, obviously thinking of what next to say."Um, I've spoken with Giles, and he knows what I did, getting into the black arts books of his.But since I managed to control it all so well, he's going to let me continue to increase my skills, under intense supervision ofcourse.Uh, what else happened?Well, I guess you figured out the tombstone was Xander's idea, I mean I liked it but who else but Xander would have come up with a line "She saved the world a lot", and not that I mean any disrespect or anything like that to Xander, I just figured that you know his sense of humor, and everybody seemed to like it, especially Spike, I think he's starting to grow on everybody, you know he tried to save Dawn on the tower, but that demon doctor, who has thoroughly been killed now by the way, was just too powerful, and Dawn told everybody what Spike said to him, and even Xander had to clap Spike on the back for that, and something else happened, I know it did, but I'm babbling, and you did give me permission to babble and all that, and…"

Buffy and Willow froze.Tara and Dawn looked puzzlingly at the redhead."Wait a second.How could I have known she gave me permission to babble?" Willow asked, a scared and hunted look on her face.Tara immediately came to her rescue.

"Maybe you subconsciously heard her ghost say that." The shy blond offered.

"Oh," was the only response.

"Um, Tara, do you want to…?" Xander half asked.Tara looked up where Buffy was standing, and if the dead Slayer didn't know any better, the girl looked right at her.

"Uh, yeah, but do you mind if I do it alone?" Tara turned apologetically to Willow, but Willow only smiled brightly and kissed her on the cheek."Ofcourse we don't mind.We'll be waiting by the car."And with that, Xander, Willow, and Dawn started walking off.

When they were a good distance away, Tara turned back towards the grave and said a simple sentence."They still love you."Buffy, still staring after her friends and sister, only said, "I know.And I'll always love them.But if anything, I understand death.Death was my gift right?They need to move on.I hope you're helping all of them Tara.You were the furthest from me, the one that didn't know me as well as the others, or didn't feel a certain ways towards me.You're the only one that can help them."

Tara looked up from the grave, and there was no doubt about it, she looked right at Buffy."No, that's not true.I'm not the only one that can help them.And just because I was new to the group and closest to Willow instead of you, that doesn't mean that I cared the least about you.Buffy, I'm hurting just as much as Willow and Xander, maybe even more because they got to know you so much better than I even had the chance to.And I can only do so much to help and support them.Buffy, you were the reason that they're together in the first place.Now, it's only Dawn.And I can't…"

Tara's voice broke and she bursted into tears.Buffy made a motion to hug the hurting woman, but then stopped, still thinking she was a ghost.'Ah to hell with it,' she thought and hugged the girl anyway.She expected to fall through her, or something else creepy, not actually find the girl sobbing in her arms.Her surprise was outweighed by her love and concern for the young woman crying onto her shoulder, so she just stood there, hugging and soothing the lover of her best friend.

Willow looked on from a distance away, and her heart lurched at the sight of her love standing there weeping at the foot of Buffy's grave.Xander and Dawn were both in the car, waiting for the other two to come so they could get moving.Willow just stood at the edge of the graveyard, staring at Tara, until she felt a comforting hand slide onto her shoulder.It was Xander.He just looked at her, and she felt the tears she held inside spill over and out.He stood there, comforting her by his presence, and then Dawn came up on Willow's other side.Together the three turned back to the car, walking slowly.The sky above them clouded over and began to turn dark.

Tara finally managed to stop crying, and she looked up, with shock on her face."You're real." She said.Buffy let the girl go and dropped her arms.She shrugged and said, "I guess.I really don't know what's going on.The last thing I remember clearly was saying goodbye to Dawn, and jumping off the tower into the rift.Then I remember _feeling_ that I wanted to do more for her, that I would do more for her and all of you if I could.And Tara, I'm so sorry about what I said.I consider you to be my friend, one of my best friends, and I love you, just as much as I love the others.You're Willow's girl, and I guess you're mine too, but in a different way.You're the girl I would've wanted as a daughter.I love you Tara.So no matter what else I say, please remember that."Tara was smiling, despite tears on her face, more were coming, but not tears of grief, tears of happiness and joy.

"Buffy, are you…I mean, are you still…uh, you did…didn't you?" Tara stuttered.

Again, Buffy shrugged and walked silently closer to the grave marker."I don't know.Jumping into a rift of extra-dimensional energies is definitely one way to die, and if that didn't do it, then falling off a five-story tower without a cushion to land on would most likely nominate me for being on the Most Definitely Dead list.So why am I here?Why could I hug you?" Buffy asked the questions she sensed Tara about to ask.

Tara nodded, waiting for the answers."I really don't know.Maybe it's the whole universe saying that I still have a job to do as the Slayer, maybe it's the Powers That Be drafting me to save the world one more time.I just don't know Tara."

"Why couldn't the others see you?" Tara asked.

Buffy looked at her and asked."Why can you see me?"

Tara just shrugged, so Buffy answered her question anyway."I didn't want them to see me.I knew it would hurt if they did, even if they might not have seen me anyway.But mostly because I just didn't want them to see me."Buffy looked up in the sky and casually noticed that the sky was clouding up, covering the sun and sky in almost solid cotton whiteness.

"Well, then maybe that's why I can see you.I try and stay in tune with the elements around me as much as possible.So when you wished that we couldn't see you, you must have been focusing on Willow, Dawn, and Xander.I mean, they were the closest to you and…" Tara didn't finish as something like inspiration crossed the shy and cute face of the blond witch.

"Buffy, if you're still alive, but have the powers of a ghost…Buffy you have to tell the others."Tara saw the look of fear and apprehension on the dead Slayer's face."Buffy, I told you, I can't keep them together by myself.Without you everybody is falling apart.Giles has practically gone into seclusion and Xander's actually starting to get along with Spike!"

Buffy started at that last one, and slowly a smile spread across her face until she lit up laughing louder than a hyena."Spike…and, and…hah, hah, hahahahahahahahahaha, heh, heh heheheheheheheheheheheheh.Spike, and" gasp "and Xander!Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah!!"

After maybe a minute, during which the sky got darker and angrier, Buffy gained control of her self and went back to the subject of showing herself to the others."OK," she announced, "Let's do it.How do you want to do it?"

"Do you think that you could make yourself visible from here?" Tara asked.

Buffy paled."I thought that maybe you would want to get everyone at the Magic shop, turn off the lights, say hocus pocus, and then I show up and everybody's happy."

Tara just shook her head no."No Buffy, it's better for everybody if we start right away.Also, you might give Xander and Willow heart attacks if you just appeared out of the blue right next to them.This way, they can see you coming and have all the necessary attacks of panic and fear before you get to them.By the way, why are you wearing red?"

Buffy surprised by the question, and looked down at her outfit.It was the same that she had been wearing the night she had died, a sweater, denim jeans and black boots.Except that the once white sweater was now a bright red, and the once gray pants were now a fuchsia pink.Her boots were still black."I don't know.OK, maybe this is a good idea.Maybe Willow and Giles can figure this out.OK, here goes."

Concentrating, Buffy imagined how much she wanted to see her friends, all of her friends, and for them to see her.Then, Buffy was surrounded by an aura of pink, red, and gold sparkles, and both young women swore they could have heard bells ringing.Not one or two tone bells, but more like the bells of a wind chime when you run your hands through all of it, all at once."What was that?" they asked as one.Shrugging, Buffy turned back to the task at hand, facing Willow, Xander, and Dawn.

The sky was now very dark and it looked like it was about to start pouring any minute, but Tara and Buffy walked slowly to the entrance of the graveyard.The others were about five feet from the car, when they stopped.Willow, in between Xander and Dawn, turned around and saw Tara coming back, but with another short blond woman beside her.

Turning completely around, Willow asked Xander in a timid voice, "Xander, who do you think that woman with Tara is?"

Xander barely glanced at the approaching couple before stepping up to the opening Willow had given him."What, scared of a little competition Will?Ah, don't worry about it, I'm sure that you can easily turn all of Tara's other girlfriends into toads if you have to.Am I right Dawn?Dawn?"

When Dawn didn't answer, Xander out of concern looked at her.She was staring in the same direction as Willow, but she had her "I'm about to start crying, so be ready," face on.Something she had in common with her sister."Dawn, what is it?What's…" he didn't finish as he looked where the two young women were looking.He gulped.It couldn't be…could it?

The two blond women came continuously closer, and the three by the car, the only other people around, were frozen to the spot where they stood.If any had cared to look, obviously none did, the sky above the graveyard, and Sunnydale in general was in a foul mood.It was almost as dark as night now, and definitely dark enough for the light activated street lamps to come on.And the clouds, the clouds were rolling and clapping together, but there was no wind, there was no thunder and there was no sign of rain.As far as Meteorologists were concerned, a lot of clouds had just swept over a small portion of a little talked about part of California, where strange weather was very common.No, there was no wind, but the clouds still moved and rolled, there was no rain, and there would be none, and there was no thunder, not yet anyway.Not a soul cared.

Finally, after a two-minute walk, the pair of blond women, one in pink and red, the other in black and pale blue, came to stand in front of the other three that were standing there.This close, there was no denying it.The blond woman with Tara, she was Buffy.Their dead friend, the one whose grave they had just visited.Dawn was the first that was able to speak.

"B-Buff-Buffy?" she whimpered.

Buffy smiled her million-dollar smile and nodded."Yeah, it's me Dawnie.Don't be afraid, it's really me.I'm not a vampire or a demon or anything.Actually I'm not sure what I am, but I'm still me."

Xander and Willow stuttered as one in saying, "Buff-Buffy, is it really you?"

"Hey guys," is all she said before lightning struck.

Literally.


	4. CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER THREE

Chapter Three

Lightning flashed through the sky, twice.But for our heroes, and our heroine returned from the dead, this was not far off distant, 'ooh isn't that cool' lightning.This was ten feet away.All they knew was, the area around the gate of the cemetery was all of a sudden bathed in a blinding white-hot light.Those who could see saw that at the exact same moment, another bolt of lightning struck the tree by Buffy's grave.

Actually, the tree was undisturbed, it was the grave that was struck and obliterated by the lightning.But nobody cared about that, because they were ten feet away from a massive lightning strike, and if you've ever even been near something like that, and not struck, aside from being lucky, you also know it's very intense.Especially since the thunder was like _right there_, and deafening as much as the light was blinding.

After the brief episode, during which Buffy threw everybody to the ground and protected them all with her body, the strangest thing happened.The dark on dark thunderclouds that had appeared in the sky, disappeared within a matter of seconds and leaving blue sky and the bright sun.Getting up, Buffy helped the others to stand, and took a look at what had happened.

The gate was a mess, crumpled and blackened, and surrounded by scorch marks in the cement.Further on, she could make notice of a rising column of smoke, roughly about where she and Tara had just walked from.Yet, what held and kept her attention was the strange man standing in the center of the ruined gate and scorch marks.He was about six foot, she guess, had long wavy soft brown hair, and was dressed completely in pure white.

Slowly, he began to walk towards the group.Buffy was immediately wary of him.She double-checked and made sure that everybody was behind her, just in case.

"Wow!What the hell was that?" Xander asked.

"I don't know." Willow answered."But maybe we should ask him.I think he might know." The redhead pointed to the man in white walking towards them.

When he was less than two feet from Buffy, he stopped.He looked down at her, she was at about his chest height, and smiled the brightest smile they had ever seen on a human face.Buffy noticed that he had deep blue eyes that held a softness and kindness she had never imagined before. It eased some of her wariness, yet she was still on guard.It wasn't every day that strangers appeared in strikes of lightning.Well, maybe every month or week, but not every day.

Then, the stranger did something that nobody expected and certainly had no idea how to respond to.He leaned down, and hugged Buffy.It wasn't a casual hug, but it wasn't a groping hug either.Rather, it was more a hug that one would give to a long lost friend that you were _very_ glad to see.Unsure, Buffy hugged the man back, not sure what was going on, and confused enough already.After a moment of being held in his arms, something was touched deep inside of the young woman.She was suddenly very glad to see this man, though she had little idea of who he was, and she hugged him even tighter.

Finally, the two released each other.The man was still smiling, but he had tears on the edge of his eyes, and Buffy noticed that she too was on the edge of wetting her cheeks.She sniffed as he spoke for the first time.

"God in Heaven, it's good to see you again Buffy."He had a pleasant baritone voice, one that could speak with authority, but was often used in light and soft conversational tones.Buffy was confused, and she wasn't the only one.How did this man know her?And who was he to appear in a bolt of lightning? They were all asking themselves.

"Oh, but I see that you don't recognize me.It's all right.I'm sure the memories will come in time.I see that you've found some of the others, but they have not realized their pasts yet.It's all right.I will explain myself, and what I speak of in time.For now, how about we go get something to eat.Being part human, we might not need to eat Buffy, but its still a good idea to retain energy."

Everybody just stared at him, then Buffy blinked, and finally finding her voice, "What do you mean, part human?I'm not human anymore?Then what am I?And who are you?And how did you know I was hungry?"

The tall white stranger just smiled mysteriously and began to walk past them."Coming?" he asked.

Reluctantly, and mostly in shock, they all followed him, until he stopped in front of Xander's car.Buffy wanted more answers, so she stepped in front of him and asked, "OK, enough with the cryptic stranger crap.Who are you, what are you doing here, and most importantly, why did you show up in a bolt of lightning?"

The stranger's eyes lit up a little, and he turned back to see the point he had entered the world.The scorch marks, the bent and melted metal, and signs of a fire in the distance did indeed point towards a lightning strike as the cause."Wow, a lightning bolt, huh?That's new.Usually it's a beam of light from the sky, or chariots of fire and so forth.Oh well, still pretty cool though."He stopped when he caught the look on Buffy's face, and his face fell.

"OK, OK.I give.Geez, and I thought Willow's resolve face was tough.OK, my name is Joshua.It means 'God with us'.And to put it in the simplest of Earth terms, I'm an Archangel.As for why I'm here, well, I'm here for you Buffy." He answered.

The way that Buffy's face caved in as he said that, immediately led 'Joshua' to know what she was thinking.He hastened to undo his mistake."Oh!No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.I'm not the Angel of Death or anything like that.You aren't dead Buffy.You're the farthest thing from it.And I'm not from the Powers That Be, or anything else like that.I'm here to bring you home.But that doesn't mean you'll be the only one to go home."

Buffy seemed much relieved, but there was still worry etched into her features."Do you mean home…as in, home in Heaven?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, sort of.I mean our home Realm Buffy.And yes, our home Realm is in Heaven, but that doesn't mean it's the after life.Well, considering what happened, it might be for you.The gist of it is, I've come to bring you and the others back to our home Realm, which is _so_ ready to have all of you back.So, this is a real car?Cool.I trust that there are flashier cars though.Otherwise, I'm going to have to do some major redecorating.Whose is it?" he asked.

"Uh, it's mine, and what do you mean 'redecorating'?" Xander asked, stepping forward.

Joshua took one look at Xander, and that million-watt smile again, and before anybody could do anything about it, he was hugging Xander."Alexander!My man!I have missed you!Man, have I missed you!So, I heard on the wire that you're dating an ex-demon.How's that working for yah, huh?" he exclaimed as he stepped back some.

Then his gaze shifted over to Tara."Tara." He said quietly.Willow made a slight protective move to put herself between Tara and the white-clad man, but Buffy put a hand on the redhead's shoulder and silently told her that it would be all right.

Joshua came up to Tara and looked down into her eyes."I-I heard about what happened.I'm…I'm so sorry that you had to go through that.I wish with all my heart and soul that I could've done something.I'm just real glad that your mother was there for you and could help you in the end."Then he kissed her gently on the forehead.

Tara looked up at him and said, in her quiet way, "My-my mother's dead.She has been for nearly ten years."

Joshua's eyes widened and then he glanced back and forth between Willow and Tara."Uh, I-I-I, mean, I-I, mean I…I…mean, uh, what do I mean?" he said, directing the question to Buffy.

In response, her stomach could be heard growling for attention."I think he means that we're both getting hungry and could use some food right about now." She said aloud.

"Yeah, yeah, that's what I meant.So, do you want to do this the fast way, or the car way?I mean, despite being as cool as it is, I seriously doubt that Alexander's car can carry all six of us.Can it?" observed Joshua.

"What do you mean the fast way?You don't happen to have angel wings under there, do you?And despite that, what other way is there, except to walk ofcourse?" Buffy asked.

Joshua only smiled mysteriously and asked another question."Is there any place where you all hang out, where we can talk privately, but still eat?"

"The shop?" Buffy suggested.

For the most part, the ordinary humans had stayed quiet, so now faced with answering a question posed from a tall and imposing man that had just appeared out of a bolt of lightning, it would be easy to understand why they were a bit flustered."Uh, yeah, the shop.I'm sure Giles has some kind of leftover thingies somewhere there.Right guys?" Willow began.

"Um, yeah.And if not, then I can swing by and pick up some pizzas after I drop Dawn off at school." Xander added.

"Great!" Joshua commented."Oh, and get some pepperoni.And I hate onions and peppers, so try and get something lower than a supreme, OK."

"And don't forget my favorite Xander, just because I died like two weeks ago doesn't give you permission to forget the greatest pizza of all time." Buffy accused.

"Right, right.The great Hawaiian Specialty Deal.Don't worry, Buff, I got your back.Willow, Tara, any requests?"Both girls shook their heads, so Xander made his way to the car, with Dawn in reluctant tow.

"Um, is anybody else coming?I mean, I can drop you off on our way to school, but not if we keep sitting around here." said Xander.

Joshua smiled and said, "No, that's all right Alexander, we can handle it from here.Don't worry, unless you're late, then you'll have something to worry about.See you at the shop."

Buffy nodded, and Xander shrugged and got in the car, started it up and pulled out."So are you going to show me this fast way or what Joshua?And how do you know everybody?How do you know me for starters?" asked Buffy.

Joshua was staring after the car, fascinated at its function and apparent capabilities.Realizing that he had just been spoken too, he turned to look at the speaker, Buffy."Huh?Sorry what?"

Willow giggled a little and Tara just smiled."For an Archangel, you sure are slow." Buffy commented."The fast way.Show me how to use it, if I can." She said, getting him back on track.

"Right.Well, since you might as well be considered a rookie, I'll take Willow and Tara, and walk you through it.But don't worry, enough practice, you'll feel like you've been doing it for years." said Joshua, taking his hands and putting either one on Willow and Tara's shoulders."OK, just so I know, would this be the shop called the 'Magic Box' would it?" he asked.All three girls nodded."OK, Buffy, do think you can remember what the inside of it looks like, where it is in more or less relation to where we are?"She nodded."Good, now for concentration purposes, close your eyes, and imagine to the best of your ability, the inside of the shop.Have it?Good.Now, think about where you are.Think about where that picture inside of your head is.Now, listen carefully, you have to want to be there, at the place that you've pictured in your mind.You don't want to be here anymore, you want to be in the shop.Want it so bad that it's all you care about, all you are focusing on.Aaannd…"

Suddenly, Buffy was surrounded by an aura of pink, red, and gold sprinkles, and then she faded away, as did the aura, save for a couple of gold sprinkles which quickly dissipated."Three…Two…" Joshua was saying.As he said the word, "One." Buffy reappeared in the identical aura, and everyone swore they heard bells as she appeared.

"I did it!I did it!" Buffy was practically jumping up and down looking giddy."What did I just do?"

Joshua chuckled and answered, "Well, I'll explain that in the shop, now I'll go first, and this time follow the exact same way.OK, here we go.""We?" Willow asked as she found out what he meant.Unlike Buffy's teleportation, Joshua's was an aura of bright, pure white light, and as he disappeared, a ball of white energy went from the middle of the aura to the top of it.Then there was no trace of Willow, Tara, or the white-clad stranger called Joshua.Buffy immediately focused on the Magic shop, wanting to be there _now_.And she was.

Buffy heard the bells as everyone else did, but she didn't see the aura or anything like it.When she found herself atop Giles' table that they often had done research on, she wished with all her heart that nobody could see her like this.It was embarrassing enough.She quickly got down off of the table.

As soon as she did, Willow, Tara, and a Joshua in far more normal clothing came out of the back room.At the graveyard, he had been wearing a white tuxedo like suit, no tie.Now he was wearing blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and white tennis shoes.Giles was behind the counter, helping with a sale, and Anya could be seen by the display window, adjusting something or other.Willow and Tara looked around, Willow almost frantically.She turned to Joshua, who only casually looked around the shop, and said something to him.

"Where is she?You said she'd be here!Where is she then?She's not here.I'd think we'd see her if she were here, so where is she?" the redhead was on the verge of shouting.

"Calm down Willow.I know she's here, I think she just ended up someplace embarrassing and didn't want anyone to see her.At all.Anyway, I'll find her in just a minute, as soon as you talk the shop owner over there into closing early." said Joshua as he moved over to the table, pausing slightly when he passed Buffy.Then he sat down.

Giles finished with his customer and Willow hurried around the counter and whispered something urgently into his ear.He visibly paled and nodded."Anya!" he called to his assistant.The brown haired young woman stood up and came back to the counter."What is it Giles?" she asked in her deadpan sort of way.

"We're closing early.Put the closed sign on the door and lock up everything.Then join me in the back room.If Xander shows up, let him in.," said the Englishman.

"But…" Anya protested.

"No buts Anya.Something very important has come up.It involves Buffy," was all he said.Anya immediately got quiet and went to do as Giles had asked.

"All right Willow, what's going on?" he asked as he came to the couple standing near the table.

"Um, Giles, this is Joshua.He showed up in a flash of lightning at the graveyard when…when we went to visit Buffy." explained Willow, indicating the brown haired young man sitting at the table.

"Oh, I see.And you said this had something to do with Buffy.What does this young man have to do with that?Is she…" Giles was interrupted by Tara saying, "Giles, trust us, and just listen to what he has to say, and, and try not to have a heart attack, OK?"

Giles, confused nevertheless nodded and turned his attention to the stranger.Joshua smiled at the elder man, and indicated that he was waiting for Anya to get back.Three seconds later, "OK Giles, what's up?What does an Archangel and Willow and Tara showing up have to do with Buffy?"Joshua only raised an eyebrow at the statement while Willow seemed to become even more flustered."How-how, Anya!How did you know he was an Archangel?" she practically shouted.

"It was fairly obvious, from the way he held himself, his dress, but what always gives it away is the eyes.All Angels and Archangels have the same kind of eyes." said the ex-vengeance demon casually, as though discussing the attributes of Archangels was something she did every afternoon.

Joshua smiled again and decided to go ahead with revealing Buffy."Anyway, Buffy, I know you're here, but as you guessed, none of us can see you.It's kind of like the teleporting thing.You have to want us to see you, especially after you wanted no one to see you.Wanting no one to see you makes you invisible.A trick that only you ever seemed to do.Oh well, just concentrate Buffy."

"_Sorry_," said a voice by the table where no one saw anything.Then, as before, there was a flash of red and pink aura, and gold sprinkles, and Buffy appeared out of the thin air."Just curious," said Joshua, "where _did_ you end up in here?"

Buffy blushed slightly, enough that her cheeks matched her sweater, and answered, "On top of the table.""Oh," was the only response, with a wider grin.

"Buff-Buffy…" Giles stuttered identically to Willow and Xander.

Buffy turned to the elder Englishman and smiled at her surrogate father figure."Hey Giles, how's it hanging?"

"Buffy, is it-is it really you?" he asked haltingly.Buffy stepped closer and stared into the taller man's eyes."What do you think Giles?" said the Slayer.He stared for only moments longer before taking her up in crushing bear hug and finally letting down the wall of separation between him and his emotions.

"Thank God your alive.I thought I'd lost you.I didn't know how to go on." He muttered as he cried into her blond hair.

"Listen, I'm real sorry to interrupt, but I figure a lot of you would like the answer to why Buffy is still alive, and here, as opposed to dead and in Heaven." Joshua pointed out from his seat.

Quickly, Giles and Buffy separated and paused only long enough for Giles to stare at her for two moments more before indicating everyone a seat around the table.For some reason, Buffy sat next to Joshua, and beside Willow.Tara next to her, then Giles opposite Joshua, and Anya opposite Tara."So, what's the story Joshua?How do you know all of us?And where did I get the funky new powers?And while we're on that, what's the deal with the bells every time I do something with them?" asked Buffy.

Joshua raised an eyebrow and did his best to answer her questions."Well, the whole story is rather long and involved, and as I know you'll doubt, you already know it.How do I know all of you?Heh, that's the real shocker.Buffy, I want you to keep an open mind about this.OK?"

Buffy raised her own eyebrow and countered, "Keep an open mind?I've seen things that no regular person would believe.I've been to Hell and back, I jumped into a dimensional rift not two weeks ago, and I've fought and killed things that would make grown, trained soldiers cry and beg for their mommies.I think I've got an open mind."

Joshua stared at her, his face blank, waiting for her to finish.After a few seconds of silence, he simply stated, "Buffy, I'm your brother."


	5. CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FOUR

Chapter Four

"Buffy I'm your brother," said Joshua.

Buffy didn't react in the slightest, except that she stopped breathing."Sorry, what?" she acted like she hadn't heard him.Joshua, playing along, repeated, "I'm your bro…"

"I heard you the first time!" shouted the distraught Slayer, or whatever she was.She got up and began to hyperventilate, babbling on in barely coherent sentences."What do you…no, you can't be _my_…well, OK, there was the fact that I hugged you when we first met, but that's not…and then there's the fact that I can teleport and make myself invisible…No, I can't be your sister…My mother died, she never got pregnant again…how could you be my brother…My brother is an Archangel, so what does that make my father, Michael?No, no, I don't have a brother…you can't be my brother, so…why are you my brother?Giles, a little help here?" she finally looked to her Watcher, as she had often done for guidance and sanity where she saw none.

"What do you mean you're her brother?Were…were you, that is to say, did you die before you were born, and thus…?" asked Giles, stepping in to "save" his daughter.

"No, uh…Giles, is it?No I was not born to Joyce Summers, and died early or in the womb, and then left in Heaven where I became an Archangel, no nothing like that.Buffy and I had the same parents.As did the others that I am looking for on Earth.Maybe this will be easier if I tell you the whole, or at least most of the story.Since I don't want to repeat myself, lets wait for Xander to come in and get settled.Buffy, would you please open the front door?" requested Joshua.

Buffy, desperate to do anything to get her mind off of the concept of a brother and parents she's never known, immediately goes to do as requested.Five seconds after the door is wide open, Xander stumbles in carrying at least seven, maybe more, large pizza boxes, with all the extras on top.You know, breadsticks, Buffalo wings, cheese bread, soda, and everything else.

Buffy, taking pity on Xander, offered to help, "Xander, would you like some help with those?""Buffy?" asked Xander in a scared voice.Then, recalling, he says again, "Oh, Buffy!" in a more confident tone, "Oh, yeah, I'd love some help.Maybe the sodas and all the other stuff.And half the pizza boxes but be careful, they're hot.I had to beg and plead the guys to let me use their disposable hot gloves, though those are starting to…wear…a little……thin…"Xander trailed off as Buffy took the twelve _very_ hot pizza boxes in one hand, and took the other stuff in his arms in her other hand and walked casually over to the table.Not even a hint of the fact that it could all go tumbling at the slightest step she took.

"What?" said the short blond girl when she noticed everyone staring at her.

"Well, gee Buff, I knew you were strong, the whole Slayer strength going for you, but I didn't think even you could balance that many boxes and sodas and stuff." commented the brown haired young man.

Joshua snickered from his chair, causing all attention in the room to go straight to him.He stopped laughing and sat a little straighter."Maybe I should tell you all the surprises before I get into the details Buffy.Please, sit down.Just listening can't harm you.And you have all your friends here to support and protect you.So please?" said Joshua.

Buffy frowned a little, and then looked into the faces of everyone there.What she saw in each, love, support, friendship, gave her strength and she took her seat next to Joshua.Xander grabbed the top pizza box, and took a seat between Anya and Joshua.Before he continued, Joshua turned to Xander, "Pepperoni?"

Xander shook his head, opened the box and pulled out a slice, "Cheese.Pepperoni's third from the bottom." said Xander as he stuffed his face.

Joshua's eyes lit up and he held out his hand and looked towards the stack of pizzas.There was a flash of the same pure white light, and the third from the bottom pizza disappeared, only to reappear in his outstretched hand.He opened it and the scent of baked pepperoni pizza filled the room.He quickly took out a slice, and began to "chow down" on it.His eyes rolled back in ecstasy on the first bite."I love pepperoni pizza!Every time that I get to come to Earth, for whatever reason, I indulge as much as possible." said the Archangel as he ate another piece.

Buffy watched the two eat with a gaunt and hungry look, then she glanced at the stack of pizza boxes.Sensing what she was thinking, Xander told her, "Hawaiian Specialty is _the_ one on the bottom.Sorry Buff."Then he scarfed his face some more.

Buffy looked at Joshua and asked, "Can I do that?That thing you did with the pizza box.Could you teach me to do that, like you taught me the teleporting thing?"Joshua paused as he finished one slice before taking another."I don't have to teach you anything Buffy.The knowledge is there, as is the power.You just have to really want it, and it'll happen."

At this, Buffy just smiled and closed her eyes tight in concentration.All of a sudden, there was a flash of gold light and gold sprinkles in the middle of the mostly empty table.Once the sprinkles had dissipated, everyone could see the largest Hawaiian Specialty pizza that anyone had ever seen.Soon, its smell over ran the smell of the other pizzas.The Hawaiian Specialty pizza was not all that popular of a pizza, nor all that cheap to make.It was made out of a special dough, most often made in Hawaii, had "Sun dried Tomato" sauce, "coconut milk" cheese, and was covered in Hawaiian and sea toppings.Pineapples, hams, peppers and other edible herbs, but most of all, anchovies and lobster cuttings.Buffy and Dawn were the only ones of the "Slayerettes" that ate it.

"Or you could just make your own." Commented Joshua as he picked up another slice of his pepperoni.

Buffy reached for a rather large slice of the pizza that she had seemingly made out of thin air, and paused before biting into it, asking, "You mean, this isn't the pizza from the box?I made this like out of thin air?"She then took a very large bite of it into her mouth.Joshua only nodded.

Giles, Willow, Tara, and Anya looked at the three eating pizza, looked at each other in turn, and as if in unanimous decision, each made a grab for a different pizza box.Twenty minutes later, everyone had had their fill, and Buffy had even gotten Joshua to try a slice of the pizza on the table.He had almost immediately choked, but managed to get it all down.Coughing loudly, but not choking, Joshua managed to get out, "Not…cough, not too bad.Whoa boy, I forgot the kind of tastes you used to have.Good thing I love you way too much to hate anything that you love.But if you ever, _ever_ ask me to try this thing again, I will personally get all of your old boyfriends together and convince them to try dating you again."

Joshua again noticed that his words troubled his sister."Ah, shit, I'm sorry.I don't mean this world's old boyfriends.Ah, Mother above!Buffy listen to me, you aren't Buffy Summers anymore.Not anymore.Not completely anyway.Buffy, remember when I said keep an open mind?Well, this is the part that I was talking about.The part that I'm your brother was just a warm up, and it doesn't even begin to cover all the bases."

Buffy paled slightly, but steeled herself, ordering herself not to flip out the last time this man had revealed something to her."OK.What is it that I need to know?"

Joshua sighed and steeled himself for whatever response that was to come."Buffy," he began slowly, "Buffy, I know this will sound unbelievable, but some of the things you have just done have proven it beyond any shadow of doubt that your mind and emotions may tell you.Buffy, you are a god."

Joshua almost winced and braced himself, but forced his body to stay still and take whatever reaction his sister would give.He expected disbelief, he expected another panic attack, he might've even expected total calm and acceptance, but he never expected total rage.

"What?" she asked in her Slayer "I'm about to kill you because I'm angry" voice.

Joshua paled and backed up slightly."Um, Buffy, um, is there a reason why this might upset you?" he asked cautiously.Her face was etched in fury, and everyone knew her reasons were more than justified.

"Do you know what "killed" me two weeks ago?" Buffy asked.

"Not specifically, no.I knew about the dimensional rift, and what caused it to open, but despite where I'm from current affairs is not often a priority on the message board.I know enough that I could find you and the others, and get generals on the backgrounds of each, but no, I don't know what "killed" you two weeks ago." answered Joshua.

"I was fighting a god.A demon god that wanted to go back to her "realm", to her home realm, and it turns out that I was exactly like her?" accused the enraged girl.

Joshua's face scrunched in confusion."Um, what was this god's name, if it had one?"

Buffy's stony features stared back at the Archangel."Glory.Her name was Glory." she said.

Joshua's face remained the epitome of confusion until Giles stepped in, "Her minions called her _Glorificus_."Joshua's face fell and his eyes bulged."Glor…Glorificus…?But, how?She was to be trapped inside a normal man.With no way to break free.No way at all.Heavens above Hell, I didn't even know that she was on the Earth Realm.Glorificus.I…can't…believe…it…" said Joshua, looking like he'd just been told the world was going to end in the next thirty seconds.

"What happened to her?Is she still around?I mean, how did she get out in the first place?" Joshua asked.

"She stole people's sanity, to give herself enough balance to break through.After that, it was just a matter of fighting for control."It was Tara that spoke this.All eyes turned to her and Willow held her closer.

"Tara, baby, are you all right?" Willow asked in a singsong baby voice.

"I'm fine Willow.It's just that I've been thinking about…it…for the past couple of weeks, and… and I figured out why she did it, and in some cases how.I…I don't remember everything, but I remember enough to know…to remember what it was like for her, to be trapped inside of Ben." said the small blond wicca.She trembled slightly as she recalled once again the feeling, the…

"Oh Lord All Mighty.Tara…we…we had no idea.I mean, none of us knew that it was Glorificus free on Earth that was here.If we had, we would've sent someone, I would've even come myself if I knew that it was Glorificus.It was when Buffy first died that we, myself and our parents, became aware that she had come of age, that you were all still on Earth and for the most part, safe.After that, Father spent a great deal more time checking up on everyone here, unfortunately, he couldn't exactly leave our Realm, and I still had responsibilities back home that could not be put off just to check on my sister.So when it was finally found out that Buffy had briefly entered a demon dimension, my trip was planned, and my tickets were bought, as they say."

"When everyone in Heaven heard what had happened to Tara, I couldn't wait another minute, so I rushed everything as much as possible.Then, Buffy made the call.It wasn't conscious really, and it wasn't really a call.When you jumped into the dimensional rift Buffy, the part of you that still was a god, called out for help, called out to come home.My trip wasn't delayed any longer, and whatever responsibilities I would leave unattended would be taken care of until I returned, and returned with everybody.The next moment that Buffy appeared on Earth, I was taken to that exact time and place and guaranteed enough power and tools that I would need to assure the safe return of everyone to our home Realm." Joshua finished.

After about a minute of total silence, Anya asked what everyone was thinking, "Everyone?"Joshua smiled."Buffy, you are a god.But long ago, I can't say exactly how long, all the gods of our Realm were forced to leave.Not because of anything bad or whatever, but because our Realm needed to experience a time without the gods, so you left.I couldn't leave because of the role I play in the grand scheme of things, but all of the others didn't really need to stay.So, when the time came, everyone left for Earth."

"Once they were here, I don't know exactly, but they all decided to try living as ordinary humans.I don't think many succeeded.Almost all of the "special" or super powered humans of the past fifty years or so has no doubt been one of these gods.So, what I'm saying here is, that however many years ago it would have taken, you chose a woman, Joyce Summers, and because she was sterile, you blessed her with a child, yourself.Unfortunately, well maybe not totally unplanned, but you ended up being the chosen one.The Slayer.Yet, and I can't say I'm surprised, you found some of the others, and they found you, and you became friends in this life."

Buffy shook her head, trying to absorb all of this."OK," she began, "What you're saying is that I was born a god in this Realm in Heaven, then one day all of us gods left and I put myself in my mother's womb so I could be the Slayer?OK, I can keep an open mind, but this is stretching it."

"As I said, what you've already done proves it beyond any and all doubt.And there's more." he said.At this he looked at Willow and Tara, and Tara sensing his gaze looked up, which in turn caused Willow to look up.

"That's right.You kept mentioning me.And you said something about my mother." said Tara as she held Willow's hand.Suddenly the blonde's eyes widened, "Is Buffy my mother?!I mean, my godhood mother?"

At this, Joshua burst out laughing so loud that everyone jumped in surprise.He wiped away tears from his eyes and stopped laughing after a bit.Getting serious he said, "Well, yes, Tara it is true that you are one of the gods of our Realm, but Buffy is not your mother.And yes, you do know your mother in this life.In fact, she is in this very room.And if you're also wondering, yes, she is a she."

"So what am I god of?" Buffy suddenly asked.Joshua turned his attention back to his sister, but before he could answer her she asked another, "I mean, Glory was part of a god-tri-umpheret or something, and then she tried to take over.So what are Tara and I gods over?Or are we just gods because of our powers and nothing more?"

"Buffy," said Joshua to stop her babbling."Sorry," came the response.

"Well, Tara is the Goddess of Peace and Purity within the lands of Anton, Amphora, and Quiltius.Understand, these are like countries, provinces, continents on the chosen planet in our Realm." explained Joshua.

"Chosen planet?" asked Xander.

"Well, in each Realm, there is one planet, or city, or maybe even just building that is the center of everything.Attention, money, popularity, even the attention of the gods and God All mighty.For example, in this Realm, in this universe, in this reality, the chosen planet is Earth.God made countless other planets throughout the cosmos and Heavens, so why does He send His _only_ son to this planet to die for one species on a planet so full of diverse life that more than half of them go extinct practically over night?Makes you feel kind of special huh?Well, in our Realm the planet is called Anton.It's much smaller than Earth, and only has one ocean.Ofcourse that ocean covers the entire bottom half of the planet, but you get the idea."

"OK, so Tara is the goddess of peace, what am I?What do I do?What other powers and stuff can I do?" asked Buffy impatiently.

Joshua smiled like the cat that just ate the canary."Well, you Buffy, you are the Goddess of Love and Happiness of children and girls.At least, that's what it says on most of your temples.What isn't commonly known, except through story lore and Myth, is that you are the Princess of the gods.A title given you by the fact that you are the first daughter born to our father and mother.It is not a light title, nor one that you have ever taken lightly.Basically, it means that you are in charge when Daddy, Mommy, or I are not in the room."

Buffy sat in shock.She didn't know what to say.Not only was she still alive and on Earth, when she should have been dead, but she was a god, and not just any god, but the goddess of love and happiness.To top that, she was a princess too.Now all she needed to hear was that she was married.She looked fearfully at her brother._Her brother_!When did she get herself a brother?

It was like Joshua was reading her mind as he answered her question before she could even form the words to ask it."No, you are not married.But that doesn't mean that you're a virgin.The princess title aside, the title of Love goddess has its own set of responsibilities.Two of which I imagine you can guess."

Tara interrupted, "Um, Joshua, uh who is my mother?I mean my godhood mother.You said it wasn't Buffy right?So, um who is she?I'd-I'd really like to talk with her."

Joshua's gaze downshifted right then."Um Tara.Buffy, who has re-attained her powers as a goddess, still hasn't gotten her memories as one back.So, even if I told you who your mother is, she would still be in her mortal form, and only have her mortal memories.Don't worry though, there's a hypnosis technique that can help each of you get back in touch with your powers and memories."

"Let's do it," said Buffy out of the blue.

"Huh?" said Joshua.

"Let's do it.This hypnosis thing.I know you're telling the truth, and I don't want you telling me any more about my past.I want to remember it.You said you could do it, so lets do it." Buffy told him.He only shrugged and said, "OK, you're the princess."

He stood up and indicated that she should also.He then walked into the back room, Buffy on his heels.The others, weren't sure if they should follow or not, until Joshua said to them, "Well, coming?"Immediately they all rushed like third graders to the playground, even Giles.

When they all got to the back room, they saw Buffy sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, and Joshua standing about five feet away from her.He looked up at them."Well, come on in, but you don't want to crowd around.When Buffy gets back in touch with her powers and memories, I imagine there might be some powerful discharges of energy.Just warning you."

"Ready?" he asked."Ready," she said.


	6. CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER FIVE

Chapter Five

"OK Buffy," said Joshua, sitting backwards on a chair in front of the woman, "I want you to relax, as much as possible.Just let the tension flow out of you and focus your mind.Focus it inwards, where you can see yourself, where you can see all the parts of your personality, your body, and your mind.Once you have that, let me know."

Buffy closed her eyes, concentrating.After about a minute, she tensed a little."Relax Buffy, it'll come, just let it come and don't fight it.Relax," reminded Joshua.Again Buffy relaxed and about a minute later she announced, "I have it."

"Good," said Joshua."Now, I want you to focus on one part of your personality, one part of your body, and one part of your mind.You may choose which to focus on.Let me know what you see when you've done that."

Almost immediately, "A triangle."

Joshua smiled and turned to the others."She focused on her love for others, her hand, and her upper consciousness." Joshua told them.

Buffy opened her eyes."How did you know that?" she asked.

Keeping the smile, Joshua explained, "What you just did was what we call, "Seeing Yourself."It allows 'us' to find out if anything is wrong with us, or allow us access to parts of our bodies, minds, or other things that we can't normally access consciously or even subconsciously.When we focus on particular parts of each part of us, we usually see a shape.For most, this shape is roughly identical, if they focus on the same parts.You focused on the strongest part of your personality, you hand, and your upper consciousness, or what people call the 'real' you.When one of us does that, we see a triangle.Usually different colors, various shapes, but the basic is a triangle.There's also a way to tell if a certain part of you is injured or in trouble or just different.The shape that you saw was kind of weak on the right side, wasn't it?"

Buffy's eyes widened and silently nodded."Well, that's because your upper consciousness is damaged, you don't remember everything about you.It should fill out when we finish up." Joshua explained."Now Buffy, I want you to concentrate again.See yourself.That was basically a warm up to let you know what exactly you're doing.Now, let me know when you see yourself."

After about thirty or so seconds, Buffy announced, "OK, I have it again.Now what do I do?"

"OK, now I want you to focus on your love." Joshua told her.

"What?!What are you talking about my love?What's that look like?" complained Buffy.

"Buffy, you are the Goddess of Love.Your powers and abilities and just about everything that makes you a god is centered around your ability to love, and to accept and receive love.Buffy, you are full of love.I don't think it would be that difficult to find in yourself what I'm talking about."

"Well, OK.I'm getting a real big déjà vu here, but could you give me a hint as to what I have to focus on here?Please?" pleaded Buffy.

"OK.You love Willow right?Like a sister, right?You love Alexander?You love Tara?You loved Angel?" Joshua offered.

"How do you know about Angel?" asked Willow, of all people.

Joshua turned to her, shrugged and simply said, "Gossip,"

The brown haired angel turned back to his sister, and the small blond woman nodded her head, her eyes still closed."OK.I-I think I see something, but it's insubstantial, I can't really see it all that well," she told him.

"That's OK.There is just a couple more steps to go through," he told her."Now, I want you to focus as hard as you can on the love you have for each and everyone of the people that you have loved in this life.I want you to focus on it until you feel it as fresh as the day you realized that you did.It should become a little more substantial after that.Once you've done that, I want you to remember all of the people that have loved you in return, and I want you to put yourself in their shoes.Feel the love that they gave to you as if it were your own, and add it to what you are already feeling.Once you've done this, you should be able to see that love as a real substance that you can touch and see.Touch it."

"What about Spike?" Xander asked, interrupting.

"Spike?" asked Joshua.

"Um, yeah, Spike.Formally William the Bloody.He's a vampire that previously killed two Slayers, and tried to kill Buffy.Until this government agency kidnapped him and put a chip in his head that made him kind of impotent." Xander elaborated.

"Impotent?" asked the Archangel.

"He couldn't hurt any humans without getting something like a migraine, only a thousand times worse.When he couldn't kill Buffy, about three or four months ago he fell in love with her instead.It was really creepy," continued Willow for Xander.

"Oh"

All of a sudden, Buffy gasped.All eyes were immediately back on her.As they watched, the familiar red and pink aura had completely engulfed her, and tiny bolts of pink and gold lightning danced all over her seated form.There was a sound like a loud vacuum and distant thunder, as a ball of pink lightning energy coalesced inside Buffy's body and then visibly traveled up until it reached her head.A sudden wind more powerful that tornado gale force winds, whipped through the room and at the end of it, Buffy cried out.

Then it all just stopped, and Buffy, looking normal, collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.Immediately everyone was beside her, but Joshua who was the first there, held onto Buffy."Shhhhhhh, shhhhhhh," Joshua tried to quiet everybody.Once the commotion stopped, Joshua carried Buffy back out to the main room and laid her gently on the table.Stepping back, he joined the others that were huddled together all a little angry with him; he could tell.

"All right, before you go pointing fingers and everything, allow me to remind you that Buffy was the one who wanted to do it immediately.As for that, I think it was just a little bit too much of a rush for her.She's fine.She just needs to rest for a bit," said Joshua.

"Oh, will that happen to me when I…" Tara started to ask.

Joshua shrugged, "I'm not sure.I can guarantee you that it won't happen to all of you.But don't worry, it's more like jumping off a skyscraper with a bungee cord or a parachute.But a whole lot more intense.I think its just because she tried to fight it at first, but since she went looking for it and found it, it wouldn't be stopped.Just be aware that you have to embrace your powers, no matter what they're based on."

A groan from the table turned everybody around and before Joshua could blink, everyone was surrounding Buffy, trying to see if she was all right.Slowly Buffy returned to consciousness, and as she did, the memories slowly surfaced.First were the forgotten ones, the times she spent as a child of the heavens, then as a little human girl playing in a field her father made just for her, and growing up to her maturity, all of her mistakes, all of her blessings and memories as the goddess of love.It wasn't until hate entered man's heart did she include the happiness of children and girls.She protected them all, and she never abused her responsibilities.Her powers?Oh yeah, all the time, but never her responsibilities.She also remembered the day that she and all her family and friends left their Realm, and why.

Then came the memories of this life.She remembered Joyce Summers, her mother that had loved her and cared for her more than even she, the goddess of love could imagine.She remembered her childhood, she remembered being called, she remembered staking her first vampire, the gym, she remembered meeting Angel, the Harvest, the Master, Spike, Angelus, the Initiative, Adam.She remembered Faith.Oh God in Heaven, she remembered Faith.Faith and Kendra were the two things she had not expected to encounter on Earth, but she wasn't the real Slayer, she just happened to choose along the bloodline and got picked.

Then, other memories came.The memories that the monks had given her.She remembered the day her mother and father had come home with Dawn, she remembered Dawn's first day of school, Dawn learning how to ride a bike, their first fight, everything that Dawn would've experienced had she really been with Buffy through the blond Slayer's life.She remembered the Tower, Glory, Ben.And she knew what had happened to them.Using her powers it was easy enough, but deep down, she wasn't really surprised that it had been Ripper who had done it.

Opening her eyes, Buffy saw about five different heads floating around her in her vision.It reminded her of the time that she had woken up from fainting when she had that mind reading power.At least this time she didn't hear their thoughts as she woke up and looked at them.

"It's OK guys.I'm fine, except maybe a little crowded," she said as she lay there.

Slowly, they got the hint and backed off a little, letting her sit up at the least."Buffy, what happened?" asked Giles, always the concerned father figure.It was strange hearing the question so filled with concern coming from someone who held within them a being of such ruthlessness.

"Do you remember anything?Are you all right?You passed out," informed Willow.Dear Willow, her Special Guardian, her dearest sister.

Buffy turned to Willow and smiled as bright a smile as Joshua did the moment that he saw her."Don't worry Wills, I'm all right.Actually I'm better than all right.I remember, I remember everything.Especially how to do this." Buffy said as she was suddenly surrounded by the pink and red aura, though it seemed to be even more substantiated, and the gold sprinkles.Something else that was different from her earlier uses was a ball of gold energy, setting off more of the gold sprinkles, traveled from the center of her being to the top of her head as she disappeared from the table, and reappeared beside Joshua in an identical fashion.Ofcourse the bells could still be heard.

"Wow!" exclaimed Xander.

"Yeah, what he said," Willow casually said."By the way, did you figure out what the bells were?Now that you got your memory back and all?"

Buffy smiled brightly again and slowly she walked back to Willow, till she stood less than a foot from the taller redhead.She shrugged and said, "I think it's just something to add in with the special effects, but with the sound more than the visual.You know, like Aphrodite on the Hercules TV show?Since we're both goddesses of love, I guess some things have to remain standard, huh?"

"Oh,"

Buffy was still smiling.She couldn't help it, Willow, next to Joshua and Alexander, had been her favorite sibling, and the fact that she was her best friend in her life on Earth made her all the more special to her."Uh, Buffy, why are you smiling at me like that?" asked the nervous redhead.

"I just really missed my sister is all," was all Buffy said.Then she hugged Willow in a bone-jarring bear hug.

"Uh, yeah, I really missed you too Buffy.Especially since I thought you were dead for two weeks and what do you mean you missed your sister and now you're hugging me?" Willow babbled.

Buffy chuckled and struggled to hold back her tears."Wills, you've got to try it.It's a rush and a half and then some.Unfortunately, I was so startled by the sheer amount of my power that I held back some, and that kind of created a vacuum sort of.Whatever you do when it's your turn, believe me when I say jump in head and feet first.Don't hold back for anything.But it was still wicked cool!"

"Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that I'm one of you too?I'm a god, uh, a goddess?" asked Willow, panicked.

"Yes, you are Willow," Joshua told her, coming up beside Buffy."As is Tara, and Alexander."

"What about Giles?" she asked.

Buffy then let her go and the love goddesses face most definitely went down a notch or two.Joshua was still hung on who this Giles was, an old man, a Watcher, that somehow knew everybody and owned the shop where they met."OK, sorry to disappoint, but there is no god in our Realm named _Giles_.Sorry Watcher.But…Wait a minute,"Joshua paused and stepped closer to estranged old Englishman."You _are_ one of us!Buffy, explanation please."

Buffy appeared saddened as she did just that."He's Ripper Joshua.He's Ripper."

Joshua paled slightly and nodded in understanding.Everyone else was confused as anything at the moment though.

"Wait, wait, wait just a moment," Giles stuttered."What does my old college nickname have to do with me being one of your gods?And why are you two looking like you just proclaimed my death sentence?"

"Because we have in a way Giles." Buffy answered him.

"Ripper is the God of War and Suffering in all realms." Joshua explained further."It is a burdensome title and responsibility, and I'm sorry to say that it leaves its mark on the bearer.Ripper is still one of us, and our friend and cousin.But he is a very cruel and devastating creature when he is in his element, death and destruction.The nicest way to say it is, he's a killer."

Giles appeared struck by that last statement.He didn't understand what they were saying yet, but he immediately identified the traits that he shared with this "Ripper".He wondered why he even came up with that nickname for himself."I…I still don't understand…" he said.

"Giles, let me try and explain," said the blonde goddess."I'm not Elizabeth Anne "Buffy" Summers anymore.I'm just Buffy, the Love Goddess.Yet, in many ways I still am that Buffy because so much of me went into that young mortal girl.With you, it won't be quite the same.I know what you did to Ben, and I'm not angry with you.I can forgive you as easily, if not more than you yourself can.I know as well as you do how much of you is Ripper, and how much is Rupert Giles, Watcher, guardian of the Slayer, and surrogate father to Buffy Summers.Right now, there's more Giles than there is Ripper.But when you re-attain your godhood, when you remember who Ripper is, Giles will be gone.There will be trace elements of him, but only because of the memories that Ripper will keep.So, in the end, it will be as if Rupert Giles really is dead."

"Buffy…" Willow tried.

"So what are you saying?You're going to kill Giles, just so you can have a god that you don't even like back?" shouted Xander angrily.

"No!I love Ripper!Just as I love all of you!And I love Giles, but Giles is a mortal that was shaped out of the Watcher's council training and then my love.I could do the same thing to every god in Anton, but that would leave them all nothing but careless, yet heart filled fools!Ripper is needed to help maintain the balance.He's my counterpart, my cousin, and my friend!Giles is but a small portion of him given human emotions and an attachment to Buffy Summers, who died two weeks ago saving a sister that doesn't even exist!!" Buffy screamed.

Everyone was silent after the tirade, and as Buffy realized what all she had said, she immediately felt the remorse and pain of the whole room."Oh, Giles…I, I'm so sorry, I…I didn't,"

"No it's all right Buffy.I understand completely.Besides, my life was feeling rather empty without you here.The Watcher's Council, after you got me my job back was undoubtedly going to call me back to England as soon as they heard about "your" death.I'd be glad to know that I'll still be with you, at least in some part." Giles consoled her.

Fresh tears were flowing from Buffy's eyes as she mourned the pain that she had caused, not only him but her other friends and family.Joshua stood silently by, his hands in his pockets and head bowed slightly.Anya, the only one that seemed unaffected by this, asked the typical selfish Anya-response question, "Since you're leaving with them, does that mean that I get to keep the shop now?"

Joshua, Buffy, and amazingly Giles all smiled and started chuckling at her remark."What's so funny?I was being serious," said the ex-demon.They began to laugh all the harder.

"Well, why you three yuck it up, I've got a question." Xander said interrupting."What happens to Willow Tara and me when we remember?What kind of gods were we?Was I some kind of Hades god of the underworld person or something?"

Joshua shook his head and said seriously, "We don't have an underworld in heaven.We do have an Angel of Death, but she's not a god that came to Earth."

Buffy decided to answer Xander's question."No Xander, you won't be like Giles.You'll be more like me.Tara's the Goddess of Peace and Purity.She's sort of the complete opposite of Ripper, and she's what the mortals of our Realm ask for in times of turmoil and suffering.She's a peacemaker and since she's my niece she has a lot of love within her as well.Of what I know of Tara the mortal, she has flourished in her goddess persona for many years, and it seems the only thing that sustained her through a very rough family life.The only thing that will change is how she reacts to the rest of us.You'll see why when you find out who her mother is."

"Willow, my dear Willow.The only thing that is different between you and my dearest sister is that my sister is not the shy type of person.She is much like the woman that you have become.If this is mine, or Buffy Summers influence then I am greatly honored that I could help you to become the person that I love today.My sister, she babbles, she gets confused sometimes, but she is caring to all those around her, and there is not a person in Heaven or Hell that she could possibly hate or despise.In times of need, she is calm, confident, and easily takes control of the situation in the crisis.As I said, the only difference is that my sister is not the shy type."

"And my dear Xander.You are the embodiment of my brother, my older brother Alexander.He is the God of Justice and Truth.No doubt, in my presence you can already feel your blood boiling at the injustice of Giles dying, or even feeling the lingering pain of my own death at so young an age.Or maybe the injustice of Joyce dying of something so minor when everybody said that she would be fine.Or maybe even…"

"All right!You're right!I do feel my blood boiling at all of these injustices that I can't take care of myself, and I do wish that I could make everything right!And its not right to kill off Giles like this!There's got to be something that you can…" Xander pleaded.

"Alexander, you are the God of Justice, but you are also the God of Truth." Joshua interrupted."You know as well as we do that this must be the way that it is.Nothing, not how you feel, not how we feel, not how Giles feels can change the truth of that fact."

"What's your point?" Xander, or is it Alexander now, said bitterly.

" My point is, that each of you has a place where you belong in our Realm, just as I do.Each of you is needed.And so each of you will be reawakened." Buffy continued, "But if it helps, there will be little else of you changed either Xander.Alexander, my brother, is a good man.He has a heart of gold and the will of a lion.Xander, so much of you, the first day that I met you, was so much like my brother all ready.Then as time went by and you gained more self-confidence, you became exactly like my brother.We all have our moments and times of doubt, but you have the same sense of humor, the same love for life, the same sense of honor and justice.Let me ask you one more thing, and I'll tell you how you'll feel before you tell me, OK?"

"OK, try me," he challenged.

"You'll feel loss, regret in its deepest form and maybe a slight case of anger and fury.But mostly you might feel confused for no reason at all." Buffy told him.

"Are you going to ask your question or not?" he asked impatiently.

"Do you think that Faith was punished fairly for all of the crimes she committed against the state and against us?" it came out of nowhere.

And damned if he didn't feel exactly as she had described as he realized the question.He felt regret in the deepest parts of his soul, wishing that he could have done something to turn the brunette Slayer from the dark path that she traveled.Then he remembered all the things she had done; killed, lied to her friends, tortured Buffy, _kicked him out right after having sex with him!_He was briefly filled with a flash of furious anger, but it quickly faded away as he thought of the answer to the question._Was she punished fairly?_She had been alienated, chased by the police, and forced to face her piers.Now she was incarcerated in the LA county jail until her court date in three months.(A whole lot of backwater garbage and stuff)

So he was confused.Personally, yeah he felt that she deserved another chance, but that was him.He had forgiven her a long time ago.But the court system seemed to disagree with him, and despite all its flaws, it was still the law, and there was also a part of him, the raging part that wanted her to suffer for all eternity.He sighed."I don't know." He finally answered.

Satisfied, Buffy finally got off his back.And onto Joshua's.Literally.

"So, Big Bro.How's it been hanging at home and when can we go back?As absolutely great as Earth is, I really wanna see Mom and Dad again.By the way did you find Uncle Fey?" she asked.

Joshua grunted slightly when the blond had jumped on him, but he smiled.He had missed her antics.Standing as straight as he could, making it as difficult as possible for the woman to remain on him, he answered, "Actually, yes we did find 'Uncle Fey'.About two days after everybody left.And we can go home when we've found everybody and reawakened their godhoods.As for Mom and Dad, they miss you.They miss just about everybody actually.Except for Oz.He always smelled."

"Oz?" Willow asked.

Buffy's eyes widened in shock as she remembered Oz, both Oz's."Oh, Mother in Heaven!I've completely forgotten about Oz!He was here!And so was Cordelia, but she'll be easy to find.Oz left about seven, almost eight months ago to find a cure/control over his werewolf side!His cousin, here on Earth was a were wolf and bit him.Willow and Oz dated in high school, then he ran across this female were wolf, and lets just say that he didn't exactly trust himself, with the wolf inside of him, around Willow anymore.Then he showed up again and got captured by the Initiative."

"OK, as fascinating as the whole story is, do you know where he is now?" Joshua interrupted.

Buffy shook her head no, "No idea.He took off and hasn't been back since."

"Wait a minute." Willow said, "Oz is a god too?What's he, the god of music?"

"Um, no, but it is one of his famous talents." Joshua answered, smirking."He's the God of, well, he's the God of Animals to put it simply."

At everyone's confused looks, Joshua tried to elaborate."Well, it was decided when our parents were first given the Realm we live in that they could pretty much do whatever they wanted with it.Catch was, they wanted to fill it with something more than just stuff, and so they asked God if they could fill it up with creatures, living thinking things.He agreed, but said that only one creature could reside there.Long story short, Mom and Dad chose to have Man, humans, as the creature of their Realm.Well, there's a very good reason why it says in the Word that God created man in His own image.Turns out, that in Heaven, man has the exact same powers pretty much.He can create whatever his mind imagines.So after a time, the humans of our Realm were getting bored with just farming and living.They wanted to hunt, so they began to imagine and "create" animals within the Realm.These animals are a lot like medieval monsters and lore creatures.You know, dragons, man-wolves, winged-lions, unicorns, and ofcourse animals they could hunt like deer, antelope, ferriers, various birds, and so forth.Well, there had to be somebody to keep all these animals in check and to make sure that Man could not create more dangerous creatures, so Oz was given the job.Funny thing is, he always had a crush on Willow, but she never returned his feelings, always too wrapped up in her own work."

"So, uh, who's next?I mean this all sounds great, but like Buffy, I'd rather remember it rather than hear about it.And I want to meet Tara's mother, too," said Willow after he finished.

As she said this, Joshua and Buffy exchanged a brief look.Turning back to Willow, his youngest sister, Joshua informed them, "Well, uh that's the thing.Buffy just re-attained her powers today.That kind of put a big surge of power right on top of another big power source, the Hellmouth.For safety sakes, we have to kind of space out the re-awakenings.So tomorrow I'll give Alexander and Ripper their swords, and I'll start helping Willow with her research.Buffy, maybe you should have a talk or two with Tara.In the meantime, I'll see if I can find Oz and get a message to him to come back here ASAP.Have fun kids!"And with that, he disappeared in his unique teleportation signature.

"Uh, Buffy what did he mean, help me with research?" Willow asked nervously.

"I get a sword?Cool!" Xander exclaimed.

"Talk about what Buffy?" Tara.

"Buffy are you sure you're all right?I mean if you need to rest or even eat something more after your ordeal, I'll be happy to…" Giles.

"GUYS!" Buffy yelled over their voices.Suddenly all talk ceased.

"Giles.He's right about the whole power thing, but there's more to it." She began."Since I am the goddess of love, in order to keep me and my power stabilized, I have to have a counterpart to my powers.I need the god of war in his position of power in order to maintain the balance.So, what I'm saying is that tomorrow, you'll be given back your godhood.We're giving Xander back his sword because we both know that Xander will want to hold on for as long as he can, and will resist whatever it would take for him to access his powers.For you, I imagine as soon as you have your sword back in your hand, you'll know exactly what to do."

"I-I…I understand Buffy.What is it exactly that you need me to do?" Giles asked quietly.

"Well, I suggest giving all your books to Willow, because Ripper was never exactly the bookworm type.That and she'll need all the information she can get for the upcoming weeks.And don't worry Giles.You'll still be there.It's not like you haven't been aware of the different person that exists inside of you.You've been trying to hide him for a long time.I imagine that he'll do the same with you, but whatever happens, he's a part of you, and you're a part of him.That and you'll look a whole lot younger, plus the whole god part of it."

"Younger?" Giles brightened.

Buffy only smiled her "devil's" smile and turned to Tara."We need to talk."With that, Buffy took Tara's hand and together they disappeared in Buffy's own unique teleport.Now that the "gods" were gone, the others began to wonder what to do with themselves.Giles went over to some legal documents he had in a drawer, which he had been contemplating.Now, he immediately signed them and presented them to Anya.

"Anya, the store's all yours.Legally.I had these drawn up last week sometime; I've just been waiting for the time to do something with them.I figure now is as good a time as any," he says as she looks soulfully up at him.She surprises him by suddenly taking him up in a hug.

"Thank you for everything Giles," she says quietly.He mutters something back, which she thinks sounds a lot like, "You're welcome…daughter,"


	7. CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SIX

Chapter Six

** **

In the room that Willow and Tara had been sharing since the renovations to their previous room began, (Glory ripped the wall off of it), a pink, red and gold flash announced the arrival of two young blond women.Or at least one appeared to be young, though in a way she was older than any civilization alive today.Tara was more than a little surprised to suddenly find herself in her room of the past few weeks.

"Buffy?What happened?How'd we get here?" Tara asked in a panic.

"Tara, calm down.Remember the thing with Joshua, he teleported you and Willow to the magic shop.I just did the same thing.Relax Tara it's me.We just need to talk for a bit.I figured you'd want to do it in more comfortable surroundings." Buffy explained.

"Oh, OK.Sure.So, what do you want to talk about?" Tara asked as she sat down on the bed.Absentmindedly she grabbed a pink heart-shaped pillow to her chest.

Buffy smiled.She looked down at herself then, and casually conjured a mirror in a flash of gold sprinkles right next to her, so that Tara could also see the reflection."This outfit is starting to get old.How about I change it?You know some of my favorite times at home was playing "dress up" with you and Cordelia.Here what do you think of this outfit?" Buffy snapped her fingers and in a flash of red sparks and pink sprinkles, she was wearing a completely different outfit.

The colors were still primarily pink and red, but instead of the masculine female look she'd had, now she was more the 'sexual predator of all females in the world'.She had on 4 in. red stiletto heels, a really, really, almost obscenely short hot pink mini-skirt, a bare midriff spaghetti strap red tank top that had in pink letters the words, "KISS ME", and she also had on gold bracelets, and Tara noticed a very cute gold heart pendant around the goddesses neck.Buffy's hair had also been redone.Instead of the straight, parted down the middle look that she had that night so many weeks ago, it was now kind of curled.It fell in long luxurious locks around her head, like it had when she had faced Dracula that time.(Just think beginning of season 5, end of season 4)

"Cordelia?As in Cordelia in LA that works with Angel, who Willow went to visit some weeks ago?That Cordelia?" Tara asked, disbelief evident in her voice.

Buffy smiled brightly."Yes that Cordelia.I refuse to believe for even a second that that's a common name on Earth.And yes, Tara, she's also one of us.Goddess of the Stars and Skies if I remember correctly.And not movie stars, as I know she'll not doubt think.So what do you think?" indicating her outfit that she had made out of thin air.

"It's…uh, very-very nice.Uh, Buffy what is it that you needed to talk to me about?I mean if you don't approve of my relationship with Willow because she's your sister, then I can talk to her about it, I guess," said Tara in her calm peaceful voice.

"No, its not that I don't approve Tara.I say if love is there, let it blossom.And I don't have any problems with whoever Willow chooses to see.It's just that…this outfit screams "Slut!" doesn't it?OK, next!" and Buffy snapped her fingers again.In a similar flash her outfit changed again.

This time, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but the outfit was still pink and red.The outfit was still more feminine than what Buffy normally wore, but what Buffy normally wore had mostly to do with her Slayer activities.She was wearing a long red dress, with a slit up to her knees in the back, a pink cardigan, and the same stiletto heels, only pink instead of red this time.Tara saw that while the jewelry that she had on earlier had disappeared, the gold pendant had remained.

"I like that better," Tara commented, trying to keep Buffy on track."So, do you remember who my mother is?Or, is she the same as your mother, back in our home Realm?"

Buffy smiled briefly at her reflection, musing to herself."No Tara, you were born to one of the Gods, not the Guardians, my parents.You're my niece actually.My favorite, but not my only, niece actually.You are the daughter of my youngest and dearest sister.She's everybody's favorite.Not a mean bone in her body.So, you think Willow will like this one?Heels aside, I think this kind of takes after her fashion for long dresses and sweaters.Don't you think?"

Tara nodded silently, trying to put the picture together."Yeah, it kind of does.But I was just wondering, are you going to tell me who my mother is or not?"

Buffy looked in the mirror one last time, and then waved her hand and it disappeared in a flash of gold sparkles and sound of bells.Her expression appeared pained as she sat next to her niece on the young woman's bed.

"Tara, I don't know quite how to tell you this, but I guess better now than when you remember yourself," began Buffy."Tara, I'm just the goddess of love, so I don't know everything or how and why things work out the way they do.And despite my being said goddess now, doesn't mean that I was when I was still Buffy Summers.Just keep all this in mind when I tell you…"

"Buffy, just tell me," ordered Tara, "who is my mother?"

"Willow" came the short reply.

"Huh?" Tara had seemingly taken after Buffy in accepting news about family.Mimicking Buffy almost exactly, right down to the not breathing.Then she started breathing again, but much quicker than before.She also became slightly flustered.

"Wha-what do you-you-you…what do you m-mmea-mean, Willow's m-mm-my-my mother?" she stuttered out.Buffy, with a very saddened expression, could only nod.

Tara's eyes widened, partly in fear, mostly in shock as she tried to absorb the fact that she had been dating and sleeping with her godhood _mother_ for the past year. Despite not being Christian, and not exactly being raised in a proper family, Tara knew and believed that incest was very, very wrong.She felt like fainting.Well, she definitely wanted to faint, but she didn't.

Tara gulped as she turned to her _aunt_ Buffy and asked the question that Buffy had been fearing she'd ask."What do I tell Willow?"

Buffy, keeping as straight a face as possible, offered her several answers, "Well, you could tell her the truth upfront, and experience days or maybe even weeks of uncomfortable time together due to the awkwardness of the situation.OR you could wait until you re-awaken your godhood and tell her then, and that would only leave you on the uncomfortable end of it.But then she might get concerned why you would be a little bit more "closed off" if you know what I mean.Then she'd start asking questions, you'd tell her nothing's wrong, and then she'd finally come to me, or Joshua or anyone else awakened before you, and ask one of us what was wrong with you.Me, personally, I'd tell her to ask you about it because its your business.Then she'd go straight back to you and do just that and wouldn't give up until you finally gave in, telling her.After all that she might even start out with the 'resolve face'.You would tell her everything's fine, nothings wrong, she'd say she knew you were lying and you'd come up with some lame excuse, like "I've just been tired lately, a lot's been going on", but she wouldn't accept that and would keep pestering you until you finally either blurted or shouted it out at her.Then you'd both have angry and uncomfortable times, and anyway I guess it doesn't matter because Willow's going to be pretty busy over the next few days and maybe even weeks.It all depends on her really."

"But it really depends on what you want to do.So I guess my answer is, what do you want to tell her?" Buffy asked her niece seriously.

Tara sat still for several moments, trying to absorb all that Buffy had told her, or guessed for her.Then she shrugged and said the ever popular, "I don't know.I guess I have to think about it.I just wish that…I don't know what I wish.I wish that I had more time to think about it."

"You have all the time you need Tara.You can stay here for the rest of the day, or I can take you some place else that will give you more space to think.It is entirely your choice little one.Tell you what, I'll do my best to keep Willow busy for the rest of the day, and maybe even the night.Then, tomorrow when we give Giles and Xander their swords, you can decide what to do.I promise, the next time you'll see Willow is at the Magic shop tomorrow morning." 

Tara smiled at Buffy's attempt to help, but she felt, more like she knew that avoiding Willow right now would not make the confrontation any easier, and in fact might make it worse.Tara asked her aunt a question that was suddenly nagging at her like an annoying puppy."Buffy, why…how do you think that Willow and I even developed a…a…a r-ro-rom-man-romantic relationship if we, or our spirits anyway, were that of a mother and daughter.I've read in some cases, that twins, or siblings of one life might be lovers in the next, and vice versa, but I don't think I've ever heard of it happening to a mother and daughter.So, I was just wondering if you had any ideas about how, or maybe why it happened."

Buffy's face scrunched as she sat there thinking.After about a minute, "Well, like I said Tara, I don't know everything, but the best that I can give is the fact that we all chose to be the same ages when we chose our mortal forms.Also, there is a very strong connection between you and Willow.There is a similar connection between all the gods and their children, but I think its strongest between you two because you are Willow's only child.You see, you are the Goddess of peace, and Willow is practically filled with this as well as many other things.Just as I am filled with love, and etc, you are filled with peace and purity of spirit.There is also a direct link between your powers and Willow's.I think this is what first drew you two together.After that, I imagine it was just that you opened up to each other on intimate and personal levels.Then there was also that encounter with an evil vampire Willow from an alternate reality, trust me you don't want to know.Anyway, Willow saw something in this version of herself that she had never really admitted to, mostly at the time because of Oz.When Oz left, she was forced to face it and you just happened to be the one that she was on intimate terms with when she did."

"There's also a story, Realmly speaking ofcourse, that might better explain the connection between your powers, but it's really long.I'll tell it to you some day.It involves Willow, ofcourse, and a quest that I sent her on.The story has been called by bards and storytellers, "_Defer'N'falliah Neh'Fall_".Or in English, "The Guardian's quest for an apple."

At this Tara's face was like that of a two year old child that **had** to tell their parent something _so_ important and she stood up and went over to her closet.She opened it, sat the pillow inside and started digging for something in the back.Apparently she found what she was looking for because she came back less than a minute later, holding a relatively small brown leather tome.Buffy could make out the Latin words on the cover, (Translated; I don't know any Latin!) "Secrets of the Heavens and Basic Workings of the Gods,"

"Interesting title for a very old book.It must be, what?About two thousand, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four years old?" Buffy asked.

"How-how, how did you know that?" Tara asked surprised.

"Old knowledge," was Buffy's only answer, and it was obvious to Tara that she wouldn't get any more of one out of the newly awakened goddess.

"Well, I found this book in Giles', I mean Ripper's, I mean…" Tara started to say.

"Giles is fine for now.Ripper's a god, Giles is a Librarian." Buffy told her.

"OK.Anyway, I found this book in one of Giles' forbidden stacks, but there's nothing really magic in here, at least nothing more than old legends and stories of magical creatures and stuff.So, I kind of took it.I've only been able to translate some of the basic text, like the intro, something that looks like the Table of Contents, and a list at the back of it.Though, at first I thought they were like a translation guide, but now, I think they might be names."

"Oh kaayyy." Buffy drew out the word, not quite understanding where Tara was going with this.

"That name, or title or whatever sounded familiar.It's a name from this book." Tara opened the tome to the back, on a certain page and began skimming the pages."Here!Defer'N'.I translated it to, "_The Guardian_" or the protector or something along those lines.You don't think that maybe this tome is from your Realm, I mean our Realm, do you?"

Buffy paused, looking at the book.No doubt some part of Giles had recognized this tome for what it was and had kept it hidden and safe.Looking closer, she could see something more.A god had written this.Almost exactly how long ago that she had said it had been written.Taking the old leather book from Tara, she looked closer at it.Yes, a god, and one of them no doubt about it.But she hadn't written it, and neither had any of the others that were here in Sunnydale.Tracing, as best she could, the aura that the words were written with, flipping through the pages, Buffy found what she was looking for.It was the last name on the list of names that Tara had pointed out to her.The name was; "_Ly'Marvue N Fartrus'd Fire……………………………………..Liam, God of Lore and Fires of Anton._"In short, her youngest son, the God of storytelling had written this so that they could remember themselves and their Realm when they needed to.Smart boy.

"No Tara, it's not from our Realm.It's about our Realm." Buffy explained to her."It was written here, on Earth, but by one of us.My son actually.His name is Liam, and he is the God of Lore and the guardian of Fire and so forth in Anton.He wrote this tome so that we would not forget where we came from and who we are.It carries a good portion of the myths and legends of what we did in our Realms as gods that made heroes, made and stopped wars, saved people and killed them.Our mistakes, our jealousies, our valor's and our strengths.You might want to read it.Though it is written in the home language of Anton, so you might not be able to understand it."

"Oh, well, how long do you think before I _can_ read it?" Tara asked, suddenly excited by having a book that told her almost everything about where she came from.

Buffy only shrugged."I don't see why you can't read it now," the goddess commented."Huh?What do you mean?" Tara asked.

Buffy suddenly smiled like the Cheshire cat, as Tara was learning she did a lot."Here.It's something we can do you know.Grant gifts to mortals.Since you already know, at least in a way, how to read Gaelic, I'll just grant you access to that knowledge.Not that tough to do really.Hold still, and look at the words while I'm doing this."

Tara turned to the book, and Buffy inched closer to her.Then, Buffy held her right hand up to just behind Tara's head, a spark of red energy forming at her fingertips.Slowly the energy increased in intensity and light as Buffy concentrated, never blinking or not looking at Tara's turned head.Then, the energy shot from Buffy's fingers the short distance to Tara's head and the young mortal woman was surrounded in a slight red glow.

As Tara looked at the words, all of a sudden, they began to make perfect sense.She could read them!She could understand!Too excited for words, she turns to Buffy, only to see the goddess gone.There was a note though.It was on red construction paper, in the shape of a heart.Tara grabbed it, opened it up and read:

" _Dear Tara,_

_Sorry to bail on you like this, but apparently I'm not up to full strength yet._

_That spell took a lot out of me.Don't worry little one, I'm fine.I just need to _

_finish off the rest of the pizza back at the magic shop.I'll keep to my promise_

_about keeping Willow out of the room for today.I think I can keep her busy._

_Hope you two don't share a bank account._

_Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow morning, maybe around 9 o'clock.I know_

_you don't have any classes for the rest of today, and tomorrow you may not even_

_have to deal with them ever again.Love you little one, I'll see you in the morning._

_ _

_Love,_

_Your Auntie Goddess,_

_Buffy_"

Tara smiled at the note, and sat it down, picked up the book, and opened it to the first page.She didn't stop reading until long after the sun had gone down.Then, she just lay in her bed, awake and dreaming of what new adventures she and the Gods of Anton would soon be doing.After a while she finally drifted off to pleasant dreams in slumber land.


	8. CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN

Chapter Seven

Back at the magic shop, Giles was just going through all of his "personal collection" books that he had hidden in the shop.Willow, feeling extremely guilty and like a very bad person, was going through them with him and deciding which ones she was going to keep.Suddenly, barely thirty minutes after she and Tara left, Buffy returned in a resounding tone of bells and red light.

"Hey guys!Watch ya doin'?" Buffy asked casually, as she used to when she just walked into the store.Anya, behind the cash register replied, "Counting my money."Buffy grinned.

"So you gave the store to Anya huh?Good call.Never saw anybody go after the buck, and knew enough about the merchandise as her.I'm sure that Xander's just thrilled." Buffy said.

"Don't you mean 'Alexander'?" Willow asked in a frigid voice.

"Cold Red." Buffy stated.Then, she walked up behind the red haired girl and put her hand on the girls shoulder.

"Willow, I wish that it didn't have to be this way.And I love Giles.He was my father when I didn't have one.And you are right, if I were still regular Buffy, then I would put up more of a fight to protect him.Well, hate to burst your happy reality bubble, but I'm not exactly the same Buffy.Especially when it comes to my cousin." Buffy ended the sentence with the impression of dislike.

Willow stopped what she was doing and turned to Buffy.As though she hadn't heard her, she asked, "Where's Tara?"

Buffy didn't feel like lying, so she told the truth."I left her in your room.I also promised her that I would keep you busy until she had time to sort out what I told her."

"What did you tell her?" Willow asked, slightly outraged that her _former_ best friend would've told her girlfriend something to upset the timid blond.

Buffy only looked steadily at Willow and answered, "The Truth."Willow's anger seemed to deflate at that and she could only respond in "Oh," and "Well, OK then.I'm sorry I lost my temper."

"Its OK Will.Your luck with Tara and gods haven't exactly had a good history of late, I know why you're protective of her.But don't worry, she's safe and in her room.Besides, I came to finish off the pizzas, you wanna help?" Buffy offered.

Willow politely declined and nodded to Giles and the stacks of books they were going through.Buffy only shrugged and got a slice of pizza, scarfed it, and took another one before heading back over to Willow and Giles.The books were scattered here and there, none open, but just by looking, Buffy could tell what contents they held.There was a stack near Willow, one's Buffy imagined she wanted to keep, and there were still two more boxes by Giles' ankles.

"Looks like that may take a while.Want some help?" Buffy offered again.

"Ofcourse.We'd appreciate as many hands…" before Giles could finish, Buffy waved her hand at the books, and in a flash of red and gold sprinkles, the books began to fly around the room.Or more to the point, the ones that might as well have been rubbish were thrown to the walls and some landed in garbage cans, and about thirty or so, including any and all in the boxes, stacked themselves neatly around Willow."…as…we…can…get." Giles finished.

"Um, thanks Buffy, but what about the other books?" Willow asked.

"Oh, those are mostly garbage or stuff you could recite in your sleep.These are the books that you'll be needing for the next few weeks.Joshua said he would help you with the research, so I'll let him help you sort them out." Buffy answered.

"You know, that's the second time that you to have mentioned me and research.If I'm going to be a goddess like the rest of you, why do I need to research, I know everything right?" Willow asked incredulously.

"Well, yes and no.Yes you'll be a goddess, but no, you won't know everything, and you won't be like the rest of us.You're kind of special Willow.Even for a god.See, we can't give you back your godhood like we can with most of the others, you have to earn it back yourself.And as a matter of fact, you will know everything, but only because you researched it and found it out for yourself.That's probably why you'll be the last one to be re-awakened. Sorry Will." Buffy explained.

Willow was way beyond confused right now.First, Tara shows up with Buffy, then three seconds later, in a bolt of lightning, a man claiming to be Buffy's older brother, and her's as well, and tells them they're all gods.Then Buffy herself tells Giles that he's gonna die because she needs to counter balance her power with a cousin she doesn't even like, then she takes Tara off somewhere, shows up half an hour later saying Tara's safe, but needs time alone to process the "Truth", and she and this older brother of hers are going to be doing research so that she can learn everything to become a goddess.Yes, Willow was confused.

Then out of the blue, Buffy asks them, "So, do you guys still patrol?"

Giles and Willow turned to her, then to each other with confused looks on their faces.Giles took the first shot."Um, well, uh, on…on-on occasion, yes we still go out, as a group on patrol."Then Willow tried, "Well, ya see Buffy, ever since you died, things have just kind of gone quiet.I think it was because Glory was the one pulling most of the strings, and now that she's gone, well, there's not really been much activity.So, well, we still go out, as a group, about once a week or so.Then there is Spike, Xander, and Dawn.They sometimes visit your grave and if they ever see any then they, you know, poof."

At Willow's ending words, Buffy got a kind of glazed look over her face.Then it immediately turned to that of Buffy's "I'm about to start crying, so be ready" face.Her face scrunched and her eyes squeezed shut.The tears fell after that.Willow immediately switched to "best friend" mode.

"Buffy what is it?" she cried out as she ran to hug her friend, sister goddess or not.

Buffy didn't respond at first, and just held onto Willow for comfort.After a minute or so, Buffy stopped crying and looked Willow in the eye, tear-stained blotched to concerned friendly."Willow, oh God forgive me!Willow, Spike is my son, and I let him get turned into a vampire!" Buffy exclaimed.

The reaction that anyone would expect was evident in everyone in the room.Willow's eyes went wide and her breathing stopped for a minute or two.Giles took off his glasses, rubbed them on his jacket, rubbed his nose, put the glasses back on, only to take them back off and put them inside his jacket.Anya stopped counting "her" money and stared wide-eyed at the hugging pair.

"Come again?" Willow finally managed to get out.

Before Buffy could reply, a flash of pure white light heralded Joshua's arrival in the shop."Buffy!What is it?" he yelled as he came up to his sisters.

Buffy turned her tear-stained face up to the Archangel and told him."Spike's a vampire!Because I couldn't protect him!And when I was Buffy, when I was the Slayer I treated him like dirt!My own son Joshua!I treated him like he was nothing!He loved me, and what do I do, I not only turn him down, I spit in his face and throw insults and make fun of him!Joshua, he's my son!!"

Joshua immediately knew what the problem was."Buffy, calm down!Calm down.That's it.Calm down.Buffy, Spike was given a mortal life and made his decisions.Admitted, at some points they may have been the wrong ones, but they were still his decisions.You can't blame yourself."

"Um, Joshua," Willow looked up at him, still holding Buffy."Yes Willow?" he looked back at her."Would you mind exactly explaining how _Spike_ of all people could be Buffy's _son_?" Willow then gave him the resolve look.And he paled.

"Well, it's kind of complicated.And definitely…" Joshua began, only to be interrupted by Buffy."Not my real, mortal son Willow.My godhood son.My second actually.He is a god just like us, and many, many others.Willow…,"

"Maybe we should sit down to talk about this." Joshua finished for her.Willow nodded, and they were seated once again at the table, this time with Joshua sitting across from Buffy and Willow, his two favorite sisters.

"OK.In the beginning of our Realm, there were out parents, and our Uncle.They are called the _Guardians_ of the Realm.Now, when it was agreed that Man would be the creature that lived in our Realm, God said that the Guardians must appoint lesser guardians to watch over man.And so our Parents had children." Joshua began.

"I was the first born, at all.And so, I was made an Archangel, as is custom and required of all Realm Masters' first born.The second to be born was Ripper, under my Uncle and another joining.Our parents, as you might say, are married and life-mates.Our Uncle takes whomever he can get.Next to be born was Alexander, and almost immediately after him was Buffy, who was declared Princess of the Gods.Then was Ripper's younger sister, Tyranny, or Tyra for short.She was said to be the most beautiful of the gods.After that, they started having kids like crazy.After Buffy, Cordelia was born, after Cordelia, Gunn, after him, Amalgamy, or Amy, and then Willow, Crow, and Michael.On Ripper's side, after Tyra, there's Amanda, who is called the Raven, Jenny, Sarah, Oz, Ellen, Helen and her twin sister Hellan.And guess what, here's where it starts to get weird." Joshua continued.

"Hold on for just a minute, _Cordelia_ is one of us!??" Willow practically shouted.

Buffy and Joshua only nodded.Then Willow snorted, shrugged and muttered, "No wonder I never liked her that much,"

Joshua gave a lopsided grin and continued on, "Well, despite having so much family, and gods already, these gods themselves began to have children, except for five of us.I, being an Archangel am not allowed to so much as touch a woman, if you know what I mean.Oz, being the animal man, can't get a woman to come near him, and is said to be the founding father of the satire and centaur races in our home Realm.Unsubstantiated though.Ellen's gay, and has sworn off having children ever, and the twins, Helen and Hellan, are, or were anyway, too busy to actually consider family ties beyond their siblings and cousins."

As Willow noticed that he didn't say her name, her eyes began to slowly get very, very large.Almost larger than her sockets."Um, Buffy, why didn't he say my name?" she whispered in a not so soft whisper that was easily heard, even by Anya.

"Continuing on, Buffy was the first to have a child.She went on to have six more after him.Four daughters, three sons total.Alexander had three daughters, all mortal and they were great heroes of their times.He has had one son, who was raised to godhood in our Realm by the Holy One Himself.Cordelia has three daughters and two sons.Gunn has only had mortal children thus far and since he is the God of Sex, it's not really surprising." Joshua stopped to gage Willow's reaction.

She barely batted an eyebrow as she stated deadpan, "He's actually called the god of sex?"Buffy, who was struggling to keep a straight face, snorted in with-strained laughter.

Joshua blushed and elaborated."Actually, he's the God of Blessings, and sex is one way to have children, and having a whole lot of children is considered to be blessed."

Seeing Willow's skeptical look, Joshua cleared his throat and finished up."Anyway, moving on.Amy has four children, two twin sons, and two twin daughters.Willow, you have one daughter.Crow is the father of the immortals in our Realm and can be counted in the hundreds.Michael has one son, who he named Gabriel.Ripper has only ever had half-god children who never proved themselves enough to deserve full godhood and immortality.Tyra has four children, all immortal, none gods.Amanda is Crow's wife.Jenny has five sons, two immortal, one a fellow god, and one a hero, the other his complete opposite.It has been written that neither will die, except in the hands of the other.And Sarah, she's the mother of another wildlife, the plants and trees of our Realm.Since she happens to be an actual tree, don't be too surprised by that."

"Who's my daughter?" Willow asked the moment he finished talking.Joshua was about to answer when he caught Buffy's eye.Then he shut up and just teleported out of there.

"Hey!He can't do that!Buffy, tell him he can't do that!He's not supposed to do that!He should've at least had the decency to say good bye." She complained.Buffy then got up and picked up a note of white construction paper in the shape of the star of Bethlehem.

Buffy read the note aloud, after opening it up."Dear Willow.I'm sorry for leaving like this, but don't worry, we always leave little explanations in one form or another if we have to leave suddenly.I think I heard something from Oz just now and like when I heard Buffy crying, I had to check it out immediately.Oh, and if you want to know who your godhood daughter is, start reading through the books that Buffy picked out for you.And you might want to get the two out of the green garbage pail, you'll need about three references out of them.Love and signed, your first guardian angel, Joshua."

Buffy smiled as she handed Willow the note."That was sweet of him, don't you think?" she asked.Willow only grimaced and felt like she had just been left out of some loop.

"Buffy, I…I really don't know what's going on here.I feel like I've been left out of the loop somehow." Willow expressed her concerns."First, Tara shows up with you walking beside her, looking very, very much alive I might add, and then three seconds later, this Joshua claiming first to be an Archangel, then your brother, and then saying that all of us are gods and have to go home with you two.Buffy…I…I just want things to be like they were, when you were just my BF that just happened to kill demons and vampires.Then along came Dawn, and I'll admit that I was spending more time with Tara, and we just never had time to spend with each other, ya know?"

Buffy lost some of her perkiness, and sat down next to Willow.She knew there was no easy solution to this problem, because it was a problem of the heart, and if there was anything that she understood at all, it was the heart."Willow, I'm not…I'm not going to pretend that everything is peachy keen OK.I'll never lie to you, and in a way, I never have.The only time that I have lied or hidden something from you is to protect you.It's the whole big protective sister thing, ya know?Willow, you've been through a lot these past few weeks, and I figure, with all that's happened today, you need a break.Know what I'm saying?"Buffy was smiling again.But it was a smile that Willow always correlated with her best friend, and a very devious, but fun, plan.

Willow sorted through all the places that Buffy and her had ever had fun together.Then she sorted them through with the events that led them to those spots.Only one place went with the current situation.Willow started shaking her head, though a smile was beginning to form on her lips.

"No, no way Buffy.I still have classes today, I seriously don't have time to do that, today and practically all week.It is exam week next week you know?" Willow tried to divert the goddess from the path she seemed to be traveling on.

But Buffy the Love Goddess was not listening.She was only smiling and staring at Willow, a familiar gleam in her eyes."Buffy, no!I can't, no!Buffy!!" Willow screamed at the last second before Buffy took the helpless girl by the arm and teleported them to a special place that nobody knew about.

Buffy had taken Willow here shortly after the whole "Will spell" incident.Willow was still in major grief over Oz just leaving, and she hadn't met Tara yet.Buffy sometimes when on a late patrol or something took the chance to go to a certain spot in the surrounding forest.It was the top of a hill, just above and behind the tree line.One could see the entire town of Sunnydale from this spot.It was actually the spot where Buffy had found Angel, where he had tried to kill himself by waiting for the sun after he had come back from Hell.Then the snow had come and there was no sun, Angel was saved and Buffy had given him back some small measure of hope for continued existence.She came back here once in a while to remember and appreciate everything she fought for.Was forced to fight for.

When she and Willow materialized, it was still morning, so didn't quite have the romantic effect that sunset or dawn had with it.But it was still a beautiful spot.When Buffy had brought Willow here the first time, they had to trek through the forest for nearly an hour.Then they got here just at sunset, and Willow was stunned into silence.It was the most beautiful site that the little witch had ever seen.The way the golden sun reflected off the rocks, made the trees blend into something else with shadows and gold light.The red clouds, purple sky, everything there was just so beautiful that no words could ever fully describe it.

As soon as she took three steps into the clearing, she broke down and began to sob and cry about everything that had happened to her.Buffy helped her to stand and told her the story of the place, how she had tried to give Angel hope.She figured that if she could do it once with a three hundred year old vampire, then a teenage angst boyfriend missing hacker/wicca shouldn't be any problem.They spent nearly the entire night talking about things there on that hill.They learned much about themselves, more about how they felt about things, and revealed a couple secrets with promises and blood oaths of secrecy.It was a good memory.

But to Willow, it was only a memory.There was no way that Buffy could bring back that night, or the feelings when they shared their souls.Besides, this was not her Buffy, not anymore.In a way, she was kind of glad, but severely depressed about it.Buffy was no longer the Slayer, and she was even a god, or goddess really, but that meant she was immortal and she didn't have to worry about dying or anything like that.But now what? she asked herself.

"Why did you bring me here Buffy?I told you, I have classes today." Willow exasperated.

"I know, and don't worry, you won't be late or anything.But you needed your own time out from things.And if memory serves correctly, the last time we were both here, it did you some major good in the emotional relief department." Buffy explained.

"OK, but why did you bring me here?Aside from being slightly overwhelmed about my best friend not being dead, and telling my girlfriend some "Truth" that Tara has to spend the rest of the day away from me because of it, well, yeah, I guess I have been a little stressed." Willow babbled.

"I figured that you could get everything out into the open.You know, the whole tantrum thing for dying in the first place and all that.It sort of helped to clear the air when I came back from running away at the beginning of senior year.Though I think dealing with the zombies that Mom had unwittingly set upon us had more of a key element in that." Buffy explained further.

"But, but Buffy, I could never throw a tantrum at you!And that whole zombie thing, you know fighting the forces of darkness really did have more to do than the party or getting everything out in the open.Actually, I think that it was the getting everything out in the open that split us up in the first place, don't you think?" Willow defended.

Buffy only gave the red haired Wicca a look that the young woman knew well."Well, OK, yeah, you did die, and leave all of us with like two weeks of thinking you were dead, and I had to miss your funeral to get Angel, because I knew that you would want him to know.I don't know how I knew that you would want that, just like I still don't know where I got the impression that you gave me permission to babble this morning…"

"Actually, Willow, I really was there this morning." Buffy interrupted."It was the first place that I appeared after…you know.Then I saw you, Xander…Dawn.I didn't want any of you to see me.And I guess, I did want Tara to see me.And so she could.I'm still not entirely sure what happened Willow, but I am so sorry for the pain that I've put you through.My only wish is that I could somehow, someway take that pain from you."

Willow looked from her seat on the rocks at the standing red clad goddess.Speaking of which, "Nice outfit," Willow complimented in a heavy voice.Buffy looked down at the dress and sweater Tara had helped her pick.She shrugged.

"Tara helped me pick it out.I think it kind of takes after your style of long dresses and sweaters and stuff.You know," Buffy commented.

"Yeah," Willow nodded.

Looking closer, and standing and coming up to her "sister", Willow touched a finger to the gold locket around the woman's neck."That's a very pretty locket.I don't think I've ever seen you wear something that wasn't a cross."

Again, Buffy shrugged."It's my symbol.Almost all of the gods have at least one.For the most part, Giles, or Ripper anyway, has the sword, the swords over the shield, the spear and the sword, and the sword on the battlefield as his symbols.Alexander's symbol is actually one thing, his sword, Alexiend.It is the purest symbol of justice in Anton, and any mortal who wields it, or is in the mere presence of it, is compelled to tell the truth.My symbol, well, I'm the goddess of love, what else would my symbol be.Everything having to do with Valentine's Day, and that's me.Well, me when I have a boyfriend."

Willow broke out in a giggle fit, as did Buffy as they recalled a certain event."Hey," Willow said after she caught her breath, "you, you didn't have anything to do with that love spell that Xander cast, did you?"

Buffy merely shook her head."It was entirely his screw up.Though, I gotta admire him for not taking advantage of me when I was practically throwing myself on him, begging him to undress me.Lucky for both of us that day that, when it comes to family, he can actually control himself."

Willow nodded."But in answer to your question, no, while I was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I never so much as once had access to a single amount of my godhood powers.Except when I died.See, I still wanted to stay with you guys; I had more to live for than to die for.So, I guess subconsciously, I tapped into a little of my power, and that gave me enough of a boost, along with Xander's help, to come back to life with a whole lot more fighting power than before.I'll show you what I mean tonight when we go on patrol."

"Speaking of patrol," Willow interrupted again, "what about Spike?He's been at your grave every night since they put, uh…put it up.Or in, or…"

Buffy began to laugh again at Willow's inability to express the proper language.Finally she just waved Willow off trying to get it exactly right."I know what you're saying Willow.I guess I'm kind of lucky on that mark that I came back in the day rather than at night, huh?"

"Well, uh, yeah, I guess," Willow responded."But what are we going to do about Spike?I mean, maybe you could go by his crypt sometime today, you certainly have the time now, huh?I just think that we should work out what we're going to tell him when he sees you, and how he's your son and everything.By the way, you never did tell me who _my_ daughter was."

"No I didn't," Buffy noted, turning around to the woods.

"There's something else bothering you, Buffy.I can tell," Willow observed as she looked at the goddesses backside."Why did you bring me here?This isn't just about me.Buffy, please, tell me what's going on?"

Buffy's shoulder's drooped several inches, as she seemed to sigh."Angel," was all she said.

Immediately Willow understood every one of the fears the former Slayer was withholding."Is he…?" she asked.Buffy shook her head."No, he has his own destiny.He was chosen by the Powers That Be.They just used me, I am the goddess of love, to help him develop his more caring side.They knew that one day I would have to return, with the others, and they made arrangements.I suppose that is why we never really worked out.I know that you don't remember this, but he was actually turned back into a human once.We spent a glorious day together, enjoying each other in body, love, . . . humanity.Then, when we finally killed the demon that had transformed him, he asked the Powers That Be, the Oracles, to change him back, to turn back time so that he could stop it from happening.The day never happened.But I remember, he remembers.I wish I could tell him.But he can never know Willow, he can never know.All he can know is that Cordelia is a goddess, and that she's leaving this Realm for our home.Unfortunately, I think I'm going to have to be the one that goes and gets her."

"Why?" Willow asked.

Buffy shrugged once again."Just a feeling.Plus, despite our current dissimilarities, Cordelia and I were very good friends, and good sisters back home.Not as close as you and I, but still…Also, I'm kind of close to my other nieces, Cordelia's three daughters.Call it a hunch, but I think that I may have to help them sooner than I'll have to bring Cordelia back.Just a hunch…" Buffy trailed off.Once again she shrugged and looked at a gold watch that had suddenly appeared on her wrist as she looked at it.

"Oh, wow, look at the time.It's almost time for your computer engineering class with Professor Schmidt.Tell you what, I'll drop us off at the shop so you can pick up any class books you need, I'll grab the rest of the pizza, and then I'll teleport you to all of your classes today.We'll be so close that you'll be sick of me by the afternoon." Buffy grabbed Willow's arm before she could respond and teleported them in a flash of light and chime of bells back to the magic shop.

Author's Note:

Geez Louise people!I see dozens to hundreds of stories on here with absolutely no reviews, and twelve hours after I post my first and only I might add, story, I'm getting at least seven already.I was actually hoping to start a weekly update for new chapters, like five or six at a time, and maybe a new story each Friday night, but after Reviews from tony covey, Prince Charon, and Adia ba, I've decided to put up, early, the next chapter with this message added.I really and honestly appreciate the input, and Adia ba, actually this was a spur of the moment and I only started writing this like three weeks ago.I mean I put this story on here just last night, and I've already finished the next two chapters and started on the third after.Oh, and tony, sorry to disappoint, but as you can read in this installment, Angel is just Angel.Instead, try and think of current Sci-fi and popular people that have identical first names to the gods I've named so far.Characters or real life.Just a small hint; who do you think that Cordelia's _three_ daughters are going to be?I'll try not to disappoint or confuse you with upcoming chapters, and I hope to get to Giles/Ripper's transformation by this Friday.Keep the support coming, but if you've read this, please don't ask me about updates anymore, just say you love the story and hope for more.Thank you so much, signed,

(and not the Archangel)

Joshua


	9. CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER EIGHT

**Chapter Eight**

Anya was just finishing up with the day's inventory when, once again, the chiming of bells announced Buffy's arrival to the store.Geez, doesn't that girl _ever_ knock, Anya thought to herself.Even when she was just a regular human she just barged in wherever she pleased, though most of the time it was into some demon's nest or lair.Anya just shrugged and turned back to counting the spice and herbal ingredients that still had to be taken from the box and put in the cabinets.

"So, uh, where is your school stuff Willow?" Buffy asked from by the table, where they had appeared."I don't see any of it.Should I go check in your room real quick?"

Willow gave a half smile and grabbed the wrap bag she had been keeping most of her school things in ever since they had started.Having learned from last year, she managed to get courses that were light on the bookwork, and more for diskette and paper work.All she ever really needed was inside this bag.

Draping it over her right shoulder, she glanced at her watch and realized that Buffy was serious about how late it was getting.Even if she tried that teleportation spell she used on Glory that time, she still hadn't figured out where the evil goddess had ended up, on herself she doubted that she would make it on time.

"Uh, Buffy, I got my stuff right here, but I'm going to be really, really late if you don't, you know, get me to class, and like right now.So, uh, let's go, OK?" hurried the red haired wicca.

Buffy smiled at her sister's impatience."Don't worry Wills, I got your back.If you want, you can be the first one in class." eased the love goddess.

Willow shrugged and muttered, "I'm usually the _only_ one in class anyway."

As Buffy came up beside her and took the girl's arm, Willow half turned to her and asked something that she had been wondering, given that "Buffy" was dead, and had quit college just before doing so."Um, Buffy?I was just wondering, what are you planning on doing all day, now that you're a goddess who can pretty much do everything, I mean?"

Buffy shrugged and smiled at Willow in that way the hacker knew so well, "Well, since I did promise Tara, I'm going to hang with you.You did say that we hadn't been spending as much time together, and I figure now is the perfect time to change that.You don't mind, do you?Me spending the day with you, taking you to classes, to lunch, out on patrol with the rest of us?"

Willow felt a slight case of nervousness at having to spend the day trying to keep tabs on Buffy even before she was a goddess she was more than a handful to deal with when she was really into something.Yet it was immediately overlaid by the truth of Buffy's words.She had missed her best friend, and it would be good to spend the day catching up.Just before the magic shop disappeared in a flash of light that Willow could never fully describe, she turned to Buffy and smiled her "best friend" smile and only said, "Why would I mind, I love spending time with you Buffy, because I love you, right?"

Buffy could only smile back and teleported them to the classroom that she saw from Willow's mind.Having never actually been to any of Willow's classrooms, she had to use her powers to pry the images and other certain information from Willow's mind.Joshua had done the same thing when he had teleported Willow and Tara to the magic shop that first time.Gawd was that only this morning, Buffy mused.

As Anya watched Buffy and Willow disappear in the aura of pink, red, and gold, she secretly sighed.Ever since the time back at Sunnydale High, when she had finally accepted the reality of living as an ordinary mortal woman, again, she had taken it upon herself to do better for herself.She had been little more than a peasant girl before she was so consumed by hate and vengeance that she learned sorcery to change the man that had scorned her into a troll.That act alone had sealed her fate to be the vengeance demon Anyanka, wielder of the wish.

After a thousand or so years of seeing only the worst and most easy to hate of humanity can change a person.But after little more than a month with Xander, Anya sighed and shook her head.

She loved him.There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that she loved Xander.She couldn't even begin to describe everything that she loved about him, she only knew that she did, and so much more than she had ever loved that troll.She knew that he loved her too.Ever since Buffy had died two weeks ago, he hadn't gone an hour without telling her so every time he saw her.

She briefly closed her eyes, and for the moment that she was alone, she cried a tear of happiness at her life, her mortal, short, pathetic life, and smiled.Then the moment was gone, the tear never made it to her cheek and she began to unpack the boxes of inventory that had arrived last night.

An hour later, having set everything up and in its place, she quickly double checked everything and went to the front and unlocked the door and made sure that every sign said Open.It was barely four minutes before Jaime and Jenny, two high school amateur witches that came in every day and "browsed".Anya had had conversations with them several times, the first of which was an outright accusation of why they came in every day and never bought a thing. Since then, and after many talks with Xander and Giles about how to treat customers/strangers, they had developed the closest thing Anya had to a friendship that wasn't a member of the Scooby's.

"Hi girls," she greeted, "I trust that you will buy something today.We just got our inventory last night and now that I own the store, I expect you to give me plenty of money so that I might get more inventory."

Jenny laughed as Jamie only smiled at their brown haired friend."Don't worry Anya, we did bring money today.Besides, browsing and catching up on the latest magicks of the Hellmouth are not the only reasons we come down here you know," Jamie informed her.

Anya suppressed the rare smile that almost came to her lips.One of her favorite things to do, not with Xander, was trade word blows with Jamie."Then you must have come to monopolize on the market of our customer influence.I'll have you know that we don't give discounts, and we have the most honest rates among every practitioner and shaman in the area.We also have the complete library on how to turn your best friend into a rat and keep her as a pet." Anya told them, deadpan.

Jenny smiled, recognizing Anya's own trend of humor, but not sure if she was really serious about the rat thing or not."You…you don't actually have a library that tells you how to turn people into rats, do you?" the tall blond asked nervously.

Jamie only snorted at the question and brushed her dark brown bangs from her face."Please, like any of Anya's spells have ever worked out right," she teased sarcastically.

"Actually, there is a spell to turn humans into rats.A friend of Xander's, actually a friend of his best friend Willow knew a spell and once turned Buffy into a rat.Then, to escape being burned alive, she turned herself into a rat.Willow's been keeping her as a pet, trying to figure out how to reverse the spell.The spell is relatively easy, but it requires a great deal of power behind it," Anya explained, quite serious."You'll never be able to do it, from what I hear of your own spells Jamie," she added with a wicked smile.

Jamie actually blushed and fumed for a little bit.Jenny's eyes widened in amazement, believing Anya to be telling them the truth, which she was, but they didn't know that."Is-is that true?" Jenny stuttered.Anya only gave her a look that said, "What do you think?"Jenny's eyes widened even further.

Jamie snorted again, and decided to change the subject, "So how's Xander doing?" she asked in an unusual tone.Anytime they mentioned Anya's frequently mentioned boyfriend/now fiancée, the strange young woman would normally only smile and blush.Today however, "He's fine," was the only and cryptic short reply.Immediately the two friends knew something was wrong.

"Anya, what's wrong?" asked Jenny as she came up to Anya, who was behind the counter.

"Nothing's wrong," was the reply, but the speaker seemed to be focused on an upside down requisition form in her hands rather than the girl in front of her.

Jamie, not the most sensitive person in the world, could also detect the obvious signs of wrongness."Bull shit Anya.We may not know everything about you or this shop, or even this town, but we know a dodge when we see one.Something's up.You've been practically on cloud nine for the past week about your wedding that's coming up, and today, as soon as we mention your honey pot, your all 'he's fine' and crap.Every other time we say the Z word, it's all we can stand to hear the G rated version without confusing this place for a porn shop!So drop the mask Anya, what is wrong?"

Anya was silent for a full two minutes, trying to forget what she just heard by just doing some paperwork.Finally, she closed her eyes and only with months of preparation and practice, lodged all of her emotions before answering, making sure that she wouldn't burst into tears at the first words out of her mouth.

"Um, some…uh, forgotten family of Xander's has just come back into town, and uh, it looks like that when they leave, he uh, he um…might be going with them.Unfortunately, I-I uh, I can't go with him when he does.So, uh, it-it…it uh, looks…looks like the wedding is off." Anya broke down crying as she finished that last sentence.

"Oh Anya!" Jenny exclaimed as she hugged her friend.Jamie didn't say a word and only joined Jenny in the group hug, offering her support in her friend's time of need.Anya didn't exactly push them away as she cried on their shoulders.

After maybe thirty seconds or less of this display, Anya backed up and wiped her eyes as dry as she could."It's OK…I'm OK now.It's just like all of a sudden you know.This, uh, cousin or whoever he is just arrived this morning and is going to be staying in town for quite a while, hearing what he has to do here, but um…when he leaves, Xander has to go with him.So, uh, even though nothing's been canceled, heck, nothing's been planned or made yet, I'm pretty sure that Xander won't be able to bring me with him, where he's going…" trailing off.

"But what about…" Jenny began, but Jamie cut her off.

"Have you talked with Xander about this yet?Or maybe even this jackass cousin of his?Maybe there is a way for you to go with them.And even if you can't it's not like they're leaving tomorrow.You can still marry Xander, and there are long distance relationships that work you know.Take my brother and his girlfriend, she lives in Seattle, and he's going to school in New York.They only see each other when they're home on holidays, and guess what, home is here, in Sunnydale, so you can imagine how well that attraction works out," Jamie finished.

"It-it's complicated…" Anya tried.

"Well there are ways of making complicated things simple.Hell, you're the one that taught us that!" Jamie shouted.

"Anya, is everything all right?" came a voice from the back.Shortly, Giles walked out, looking concerned at his assistant.

"Everything's fine Giles, just a minor argument over nothing," turning as she answered so that he couldn't see that she'd been crying.

"Nothing my ass," Jamie casually commented, staring daggers at Anya.

"Anya?" Giles took a step or two closer.

"Um, hello Mr. Giles," Jenny said in greeting as the older man stood nearby here.Giles looked at her and smiled.He too knew Jenny and Jamie, though not as well as Anya.

"Hello Jenny," he greeted in a friendly tone, though there was still evidence of concern over Anya's behavior.Finally, seeming to come to some sort of decision, "Um, girls, was there anything in particular that you came in for today?I could get it rather quickly if you're in a hurry or something like that," he offered.

Jamie immediately caught on."Yeah, something like that," she repeated."No, thank you Mr. Giles, we have everything we need for right now.It was nice seeing you, and you'll let us know how that story ends, right?"

Giles smiled at the girl's insight and merely nodded.Taking this as cue, Jamie grabbed Jenny rather roughly and hastily escorted herself and her friend out of the shop.Giles waited a full minute after the two girls had left before stepping any closer to Anya.When he did, he put his hands around her shoulders, she didn't try to move away.

"Anya, what's troubling you?" he asked in a soft voice.

She was silence itself as she just stood there, trying not to cry, trying to bring up the barrier of indifference that everyone thought was just her trying to move from living as a demon to living as a human.In truth, it was just something that she needed.With everyone except Xander.

When she was mortal, human, before…She was very emotional, and also extremely naïve.People liked her, and she had many friends, but they were not her real friends.They were more like the people that Cordelia had hung out with before.She was the perky one, the one that always got emotional at the ancient ceremonies.It was something that she found out people liked, someone open, but not too honest in being open, and someone who liked you no matter what.

After she had "died" herself and become the demon of vengeance, she hung around in her home village after awhile.The only people who noticed that she had even left were her ex-boyfriend's old friends.They asked, and only once, "Hey, where's that perky wench that ogre man used to date?"She even made a dream/midnight appearance to the girl she had called her best friend.The woman didn't even recognize her.

It was barely one hundred years after becoming a demon that she learned that the memories of everyone who knew her was wiped clean.But in looking at the lost memories, possible for creatures of higher and lesser planes, she found that they had only been interested in her for her personality and the wealth of her family and reputation.Except for one.One girl saw her as she truly was and liked her for that.Not her best friend, not even her sister.But the girl that she had teased often, but "tolerated" in front of everybody.Anya couldn't even recall the girl's name.

So when she accepted that she was mortal again, and would not be immortal anymore, she tried something different.Instead of being open and perky, she would still be open, but open and brutally honest, sometimes being downright mean.She became indifferent, emotionless, and often had to fake confusion or ignorance of things that every demon in Hell knew about, as that they put it there for humans to use.

Except when she met Xander, he struck something within her.He was the very man that she was sent to punish, and here she was, falling for him and now engaged to him!But from the moment that she asked, no told him to take her to the prom, she just felt something about him.Like she somehow knew him, on far more intimate terms than the casual acquaintance of Cordelia Chase, but as, well as what she knew him now to be like.When she realized she cared for him, and helped him and his friends identify what demon the Mayor might be changing himself into and then tried to persuade him into running away…with her, she knew that it might be more than casual interest.Then, after graduation, when everyone else that he knew was in college and he lived in his parent's basement, she just showed up one night and gave herself to him, hoping that by succumbing to her body's desires that maybe, just maybe she could get over him and stop these fantasies she kept having.The exact opposite occurred.

Instead of being as horrible in bed as he was in a fight, which he got better at after meeting Buffy, he was terrific.Heck, she even had to admit it now, he was like a god in the bed.Now that she finds out that he actually is, or was, or will be a god, she can understand why the fantasies only got worse and she started hanging out more and more with Xander and his friends.Then it happened, it just happened.She became one of them.A Scooby.A Scoob.And the wall of indifference had to stay up nearly 24/7.But as time went by and she got to know each of them, and her relationship developed even more so with Xander, it became harder and harder to keep all of her emotions inside and to continue to play ignorant of everything that didn't have something to do with the demonic world.The only thing that kept it up anymore was the memory of being that perky popular girl that everybody liked, but nobody remembered.

Then Buffy had died, and Xander had asked her to marry him.They had lived, and she said yes.They had been making plans to adopt Dawn, to have their honeymoon somewhere in Europe, and Giles to be the one to give her away.Now, Giles was going to basically die tomorrow when he re-attained his godhood, and after Xander became Alexander, and when the _Archangel_ took them all back to their Realm in Heaven, she would be left alone, with no one but Dawn, and because of the courts even that was looking iffy.She sighed as Giles waited for her answer.

"It's nothing Giles, I'm fine.I just have a lot to do, what with me being the only one here to take care of the store now…" she stopped as she had just given him the clue to what was bothering her.He tugged at her shoulders a little and she couldn't keep the wall of indifference up anymore even if her life depended on it.She started to sob as she fell back against him and turned to cry on his shoulder.He held her and comforted her as best he knew how, like he would his own daughter.

After a time, he pulled her so that he could face her.As he looked down upon her tear-stained face, a sight that he had never before seen or heard of from the ex-vengeance demon, he smiled at her.It was a smile of understanding and consoling.Taking her chin in his hand, he leaned down and kissed her cheek.

"He loves you very much," Giles said seriously.They both knew whom he was speaking of.Xander."And if he was upset over me being squashed by a part of my personality that I haven't even suppressed, then how angry do you think he's going to be when he's told that you and Dawn can't come with us.Also, he's going to be a god, just like the rest of us, so Heaven be damned if he can't find a way to marry you and take you with us."

"Giles, you don't know what you're saying," Anya spoke through her tears.You can't damn Heaven, you can damn Hell all you like, because it already is, but you just can't Heaven.

Giles only chuckled and took a firmer grip of her face in his hand."Understand this, if anything Anya, Xander loves you.And you heard Buffy, Xander is exactly like this Alexander, God of Justice and Truth, so believe me when I say, that he will not leave you behind.If there is no other choice, I know that he would rather stay behind than leave you by yourself."

Anya smiled as she realized the truth of Giles' words."Are you sure that you aren't the god of Truth?" she asked as she sniffled and wiped away the last of her tears.He smiled down upon her and laughed lightly.Then he took her up in a hug and turned around to the counter in front of them."How about I help you with the rest of the things today?I can take care of all that legal stuff later tonight.Then you can take off early to go with Xander to pick up Dawn from school." Giles offered.

Anya smiled brightly and quickly nodded her head in agreement."I'd like that," she said soulfully, with more emotion than he had ever heard from her before.

As they worked, Giles decided something then and there.Turning to his assistant, he looked at her and made an oath."Anya, I'd like to make a promise to you.Until the day that all of us "gods" actually go home, I would like to help you every day here in the shop.Like you have been helping me."

"But Giles, you…you're getting your godhood back tomorrow, um, I don't think that you'll still be you after that.Buffy said so…" Anya pointed out.

"I know what Buffy said, and I understand it and have accepted it.But you have a point about having to run this place by yourself.So I'm going to help you for as long as I can.Plus, I'll be working for you, and I'll be a god at that.Just imagine everyone of our arguments, only in reverse." Giles explained to her.

Anya smiled as she pictured herself ordering Giles around like he had her for most of this year."I would love it if you would, but what's going to make a god work for me?" she asked sarcastically, knowing that there was no certain way that Giles could guarantee that he would do as he said that he would.

"I promise you Anya, I swear an oath to you that I, in whatever form, will help you in every way that I can, no matter the task, until I am no longer able to be there for you." Giles swore.

Anya could only smile and nod as she went back to work.

Two hours later, Anya noticed the time, "OH!Giles, school is almost out!I-I have to go!Xander's picking Dawn up in thirty-five minutes!"

"Then go ahead and go.If you need my car, not that I'll be needing it, here are the keys.Don't worry, I can cover the store until you get back.I imagine that Dawn will want to see Buffy, and she has been popping in and out of here with Willow all day," he replied, referring to the numerous times that day that the blond and redhead had teleported in for one thing or another that Willow or even Buffy forgot.

"Are you sure?I mean, I-I don't have to…" Anya was saying, despite taking the car keys, her purse, recently bought at the insistence of Xander who kept saying she kept losing things, and was walking even as she spoke towards the door.

"I'll see you in a few minutes Anya," Giles stated as Anya reached the door and went through it.He turned back to the customers that were still in the store.Barely an hour later, everyone, minus Tara and Spike, (and team Angel if you really want to count them as everyone), was in the store and discussing that night's plan for patrol.


	10. CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER NINE

Chapter Nine

Anya almost broke the sound barrier, careening through the streets in Giles' car to the middle school where Dawn attended, and where Xander was supposed to be picking her up in five minutes.She had lied to Giles about the time, she had actually barely fifteen minutes to get to the school in any hopes of catching either of them.She felt bad about lying, but she would have felt worse if she had left any sooner.It was only her anxiety and selfish nature that had finally forced her to give Giles notice of the time.

Now, as she went nearly fifty on the thirty MPH road that led to the school, she was grateful that she hadn't waited any longer.She wasn't sure why, but she had just felt an undeniable need to be there when Xander went to pick Dawn up today.Normally she would have been working at the magic shop all day, and they would both swing by after school.But now, she just wasn't sure.

One thing she did know, and was a little relieved about.Actually, she was feeling relief in more than plenty right now.She paused as she considered that thought.'_Now I'm starting to sound like Buffy and Willow,_' she thought to herself.

"No you're not," a voice suddenly spoke beside her.She turned to see the source, screamed and nearly drove off the road, if not for the fact that the car seemed to be driving itself _on_ the road.Joshua, who sat beside her and had spoken, seemed surprised by her reaction.

"Geez, Anya, what's your deal?I figured you saw me teleport in, but you didn't react.I've been here for the past ten miles, which I guess is actually just the last thirty seconds considering how fast you've been going.So I repeat, what's the deal?Where are you off to in such a hurry?" asked the Archangel.

Anya slowly managed to calm herself back down, and after realizing what he had said, she apologized."Um, sorry, I was kind of focused on driving.You know I just learned how to drive a few months ago. Xander taught me." Anya stated as facts.

"Uh huh," was the only response from the higher being.He calmly looked ahead of them at the road, Anya still glancing nervously at him rather than paying full attention to the road."Didn't you want to turn in here?" the question was asked calmly, almost rhetorically.

Focusing back on the road, Anya realized he was right and sharply turned the wheel, as they were just about to pass the turn off.Without braking, and actually gunning the gas a little.Anya nearly fell out of her seat, and would have flown out of the car if not for her iron grip on the steering wheel.Joshua just looked slightly amused at the way the car was handling.

"Was there some reason you just popped in here, or was it just to give me a heart failure so I wouldn't have to deal with you taking Xander away from me!?" Anya shouted out as her heart was only just beginning to slow down any.

Joshua smiled pitifully at the woman driving the red car."So the truth comes out," he commented casually."And all it took was a little surprise.You might want to slow down a little, just in case you _didn't_ want to get pulled over.But if that was your intention, then by all means, rocket away."

Anya, realizing that she was going nearly seventy, immediately released the massive amount of tension she had been putting on the accelerator."What do you want?" she asked, annoyed.

"To talk," he answered, "I was listening in on your confession to Giles, er Ripper and the two girls.It was almost accidental, I swear.I'm sure that you are aware of how, when in transit using the spirit plane, if you allow yourself to be aware of it, you can see and observe things on the mortal coil.So I was just passing through, trying to see how Buffy was handling Willow, and apparently I just missed them and caught the blunt end of your conversation with the girls.Though I could have left, and probably should have, I stuck around and heard what you said to Gil…_Ripper_.I figured that we needed to talk."

"Talk about what?" Anya queried again, trying to remember exactly where to turn next.

"About what you said," he replied, "about what you believe…"

"And what is it exactly that I believe?" her voice seemed to be trapped in that annoyed, angry tone that only Anya could inflict.

Joshua was silent for a brief time, and then finally answered her."That Xander will be forced to leave you, and that maybe, and I stress this as only a god can, **maybe** when he becomes Alexander again, when he re-awakens his powers, he'll forget you, just like you think that Ripper will forget Giles' promise."

Anya focused on the road all she could, trying not to cry.For naught as several tears rolled down her cheeks."Well won't they!!" she screamed."Those two men are all that have supported me ever since I lost my powers and became just a regular mortal girl again!Xander is the world to me and SO much more!Giles, he-he's been there for me, he gave me a job, he gave me a place to fit in, and he's tolerated me just as much if not more than Xander has!And now you come along after Buffy's death and say that they all have to leave now!These people are all that I have in this world, and as crazy as it is and as it sounds, I like them and I want to keep them!!"

After this mini-tirade, Joshua looked nervously from the road to Anya."Uh, maybe…maybe you should let somebody else drive right now," he suggested.Anya looked to see that she was on the wrong side of the road, and a quick glance in the rear-view mirror told her that she had just done more damage than that time that she and Willow had chased her ex-troll boyfriend in this very car.Ofcourse, the rampaging troll had done most of that damage in the first place.

They were silent, almost for nearly a whole minute, and finally Anya spoke."I think Xander might be in trouble.Him and Dawn, right now.I can't explain it, I just have had this feeling for over an hour now.Do you think that you could do that thing you did with Buffy and Oz, only with Xander this time?" she asked of the angel.

He nodded silently and closed his eyes in relaxed concentration.After barely thirty seconds, he suddenly tensed and nearly gasped in fear.Opening his eyes, he looked over at the brown haired young woman, fear quite relevant in his eyes.

"Anya, stop the car," he ordered.

"What?" she asked totally perplexed.

"Anya.Stop the car." Joshua repeated, looking straight at her.When she looked back, he started making a motion with his right hand, bringing it to a fist in front of his face.Immediately she knew that he was doing some sort of spell, and decided to not argue since he was already doing it.Two seconds for the instructions to get to her feet, she slammed the brakes hard.

There was a massive flash of white light, and a once familiar now forgotten sensation of bodylessness for Anya and then the sound of screeching tires.Looking around the car, outside, Anya saw that they had stopped in the middle of the school parking lot, with black tire marks going at least ten feet behind her.She maneuvered the car as best she could out of the way of any cars coming and put it in park and turned it off.

"Um, thanks, I think this is my stop," she tried a joke with the Archangel, hoping that he might be a little more receptive to her brand of humor than the others.Instead he just had a mask of determination and focus on his face as he got out of the car.

Sighing, Anya unbuckled, first rule of driving and cars: Always wear your seat belt, but before she could open the driver's door, it opened by itself.Actually, Joshua was holding the door open for her."Uh, thanks," she said as she got out and he slammed it shut behind her."No sweat," he replied."Look, Anya, I'm sorry, but now's not the time for jokes.I did like you asked, and I'm afraid that feeling was right, about something.I don't know what or why exactly, but when I checked in on Xander, he was stressed, and I don't mean I'm going to be late I forgot my pencil stressed, I mean something a little closer, but not (I hope), I think I'm about to die type stress." Joshua apologized.

"Well come on," Anya hastened as she ran for the building's entrance.As she passed it, she noticed Xander's car, practically in front of the door.He was already here.She risked a glance at her watch and noticed that it was still about five minutes until school officially got out.

They raced, but silently at Joshua's insistence, to the principal's office where the Archangel said that Xander was.When they got there, it was closed, but both could hear voices, or maybe just one voice on the other side.Anya was about to barge in, but Joshua stopped her.

"Wait a second," he held her, "That might be an important meeting or something, and despite being real good at it with your experience with Buffy's Slayer group, I think now is the time for a little more espionage and subterfuge than surprise and attack.Gods do things a little differently than super heroes do."

"Then what do you suggest?" Anya asked, still adamant about breaking the door down.

Joshua shrugged and decided to try something."Buffy," he whispered loudly."Buffy, can you hear me?Buffy if you can hear me, I need you here right now.Not as soon as possible or as soon as you can, _now_."

Less than a second later, Buffy and Willow appeared in a flash of pink, red, and gold energy sprinkles.(Note: Buffy's teleportation, and Ripper's when the time comes, is just like Aphrodite's on Xena and Hercules the TV shows.Ripper's will be like Ares'.)"What's wrong Joshua?" Buffy asked, concerned for her older brother that he would actually need to ask for her help, ever."We were just getting out of Willow's philosophy class, which by the way was a real blast."Buffy and Willow shared a smile that seemed to give leeway that Buffy had something to do with the reasons behind this "blast".

Joshua, usually the one to lecture his younger siblings and cousins on the abuse of their powers, merely waved it off and got right to the point."Whatever.Anya and I think that Xander might be in trouble, kind of.I know that he's in here, but I don't want to barge in there and disrupt whatever's going on, unless we need to.So I was thinking of some subterfuge, but you're the only one of us that was ever any good at turning invisible.Between the two of us anyway."

Buffy was nodding."OK, I get what you're saying, and I'm all on board, but Willow has to come too you know.And besides, just turning invisible and teleporting inside won't tell us the whole story, just the tail end of it or whatever.If _you_ get what _I'm_ saying," Buffy gave him a meaningful look.Joshua only grimaced and nodded his head.

"What do you mean?What are you talking about Buffy?" Willow asked, confused by the sudden situation.

Buffy smiled and turned to Willow in answer, "Joshua is an Archangel to our Realm.Basically that means that he has a little bit of power and access to every one of the elements or powers that we gods control and regulate.This would include something a little like time travel, but only into the past for a certain amount of time.Though he doesn't, or more like can't have the full range of powers that each of us has.So that's why he can't turn invisible, but he can cast a spell with the best of them.As you may have noticed…"

"If you don't mind Buffy, I'd like to get in there before they get out here, so if you'd like to finish this up, I could…" Joshua interrupted.

"No, no, I'm good.I just kind of get on a roll sometimes, you know…" she apologized.

"Buffy!"

"Sorry,"

"Good, now, as soon as you're ready," Joshua told her, taking Anya and Willow's hands.

"I'm ready," Buffy answered as she placed her hand on his shoulder and immediately made them all invisible.As soon as he was sure, Joshua teleported them inside the office, and back in time about ten minutes previous.

They appeared inside the office in a flash of white light, but when they did, they were the only ones in there.

"Well, that worked magnificently," Anya commented sarcastically."I don't suppose that all of you gods' powers work just as well, do they?How far back in time are we anyway?And if you can't get us back to our regular time I'm going to…"

"Anya, shut up," Willow ordered as the door opened.She did.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice Mr. Harris," the woman at the door was saying.After a moment, she let Xander inside, and then closed the door behind her and walked around to sit behind the desk.There was a nameplate on the front of the desk that read, "PRINCIPAL STEVENS.""I'm sorry to drag you away from your work, but it really was important that we speak to you.About Dawn."

"That's all right, I was getting off anyway to come pick Dawn up from school," Xander explained as he sat down."Principal Stevens, has something happened to Dawn?"Surprisingly, Xander's voice was calm, like he already knew the answer to the question.

The dark woman merely glanced silently at him for a few moments before ducking her spectacles and answering."Yes.There has been a slight…altercation between Dawn and another student."

"What kind of…altercation?" Xander asked, using the same hesitation that the principal herself had used.

Instead of directly answering, Principal Stevens was silent for a time, and then leaned forward and touched her intercom."Pat, could you please send Ms. Summers in now?"There was only a beep in response, and less than a minute later, the door opened once again, this time with only Dawn standing there, with a black eye forming under and over her left cheek.

When everyone noticed the difference in Dawn, both Buffy and Anya gasped, and Xander's once calm face now had a hard edge in it."Dawn, what happened?" Xander asked as she took the seat next to him, ironically it was the seat Buffy was sitting in when they had been in the office talking with Principal Stevens.Dawn only shrugged as she sat, and muttered, "He hit me,"

Immediately everyone except the student and the principal in that room felt like hunting down this _him_ and doing the worst things possible to him.While two had the actual power to do something like they were thinking, only one had the experience behind it.Joshua was not one of those two.Keeping in mind that he is an Archangel.

It was all Xander could do to not jump out of his seat and start on a rampage.Instead, he asked in a barely controlled voice, "Him who, Dawn?"

Dawn didn't answer and seemed to be fascinated by an ornament on the principal's desk.He turned to the dark woman behind the desk without the need to ask his question again."I…don't think that that is really the important issue right now.What is important is the nature of what started the…altercation.Now, Mr. Harris, it is true that fault primarily lies with the other student for the moment, and he is being suitably punished.However…"

"Punishment for what, and what might that be?If I can ask that is?" Xander asked, his voice on the verge of shouting.

Again the principal hesitated, but answered anyway, "He is being suspended for three weeks, and this incident has been entered into his permanent record.Now regarding…"

Xander interrupted, "What is he being punished for?"Now there were definite traces of a shout in that question.

The hesitation was so long that it was Dawn who finally answered him."He hit me Xander.And I hit him back.Just like Buffy taught me."The love goddess formerly known as the one in question couldn't help but smile at the remark.Joshua meanwhile frowned at what the reason might be for this boy to hit Dawn in the first place.

Xander too smiled at the idea of the Slayer's, wait erase that, the ex-Slayer's sister defending herself against an ordinary human.Xander, and the others, were brought out of their musings by the principal's voice sounding.

"Yes, well, that is another matter that does not need to be discussed here," she began.Buffy frowned, she had never liked this woman."Suffice it to say, Mr. Harris, that for a time, Ms. Summers has been in the interest of several boys of her class, just as several gentlemen have no doubt caught her eye and they…"

"In English please," Xander commented.

The principal frowned and translated her own speech, "Dawn and some of the boys have been _flirting_ in or during class.No _dates_ that I am aware of have occurred, but that might be best left to a personal matter.Anyway, apparently some time today, this _flirting_ got a little out of hand and according to Dawn's story, she was punched in the eye, laughed at and taunted about losing both her sister and her mother recently, and then proceeded to, and I quote, "kick the living crap out of those pale-faced dust-buster snacks," and apparently broke the wrist of one of the boys in question and the nose of the one who hit her."

Xander was silently fuming and Buffy had moved over to stand behind her once only sister.Suddenly, Joshua looked up, almost startled, at the door.Then he raised an eyebrow, quickly figuring that they're past selves must have just arrived at the door.He was pulled out of his wonderings as Xander voicing an opinion that most there had not considered.

"So, from the way I here it, you're punishing Dawn for defending herself, and her family."

Everyone turned to stare at Xander as if he was crazy, and then the principal sadly nodded her head."Fighting is strictly against the rules at this institution Mr. Harris, and despite the obvious evidence to support Dawn's story, the others that were involved are in far worse condition than she is.But because of that evidence, we are giving Dawn considerable leniency in this matter.So, we are only going to suspend her for one week and unless this incident is repeated, it will remain out of her permanent record."

After this, Dawn snorted and spoke in an angry tone, "Like I care.Besides, I'll be gone in a week and not even the gods could stop me."Then she stood up and was about to storm out, but Xander stopped her.

"Dawn, wait.Just sit down for a minute.I have to take care of something that I've been considering." Xander told the young woman.Turning back to the principal, "One week.I suppose that's fair.If not for what I'm about to say.I'm taking Dawn out of school.She'll be home-schooled from now on.If there are any tutors or papers that you need me to sign for the suspension or anything, let me know and I'll be back here on Friday to take care of everything."

Principal Stevens, for lack of any better (and in better use over the worse words) words was stunned.She had met Alexander Harris at the older Ms. Summers' funeral.There had been something about him that she had immediately liked, some kind of inner strength.Now she saw him using that strength in his decision-making, however she didn't see him using his brain for the moment."Mr. Harris, _you_ can not take Dawn out of school.You are not her…"

"Actually, I am Mrs. Stevens.It was written in Buffy's will; Willow Rosenberg and I are Dawn's legal guardians.I have discussed this with her, and we have decided that Dawn would be better off being home-schooled by us rather than have to deal with the rest of school and the world right now.She might actually do better since Ms. Rosenberg is in the process of reaching her Ph.D. and has expert experience in tutoring students.So if you have any kind of problem about that, then tell it to the lawyer that I saw last week that told me that I could actually do this.I'm sorry about the trouble Dawn has caused, and I hope that the other students will get better, and trust that they have been suitably punished.But now, if you don't mind…"

Xander was interrupted by a sharp annoying buzzing followed by a woman's voice over the principal's intercom._"Excuse me, Mrs. Stevens, I'm sorry to interrupt, but there is a…heh, heh, a very attractive gentleman here to see you.He says that you really want to see him.His, uh, his name is uh, Joshua Friederman I think?"_

As soon as the dark older woman heard the name, her entire demeanor changed.It was like her secretary had just announced that the President of the United States of America had just landed Air Force One in the parking lot because he wanted to give her, personally, the American Teacher's Award."Tell, Mr. Friederman that I'll be right out," she told her secretary.

She stood up quickly and banged her knee and almost cursed, but the same stiffness was still there."Um, you'll have to excuse me Mr. Harris.I have a very important appointment.I trust that you'll be all right until I return?Good."She left before either him or Dawn could respond.

"I wonder what that was about?" Dawn and Anya said at the exact same moment.

"_Joshua_?" Buffy asked, referring to the visitor's name, but also asking her brother about the possible connection.Joshua had disappeared from the room, as in was no longer there.

"Where's Joshua?" Willow asked, getting slightly panicked.

"I don't know," Xander said in response to Dawn's question."But to be quite honest, I really do not care."

"Well, that's mean Xander," Willow defended the absent angel, "I mean, yeah, ok he's here to change us all into gods and take us to heaven where we apparently actually belong, but that's no reason at all to be angry with him.Oh, and then there's the fact that he has all these secrets about our previous soon to be again lives and I can't even get Buffy to begin to tell me any of those secrets!Not that I'm angry with Buffy, because I love Buffy, and I like her a lot.Not as much as I like Tara, and certainly not in that way.I mean she is my sister…"

"Will?" Buffy tried to fit in.

"And that's another thing;" Willow continued with a full head of steam, "I think it was kind of impetuous that you would just assume that I would agree to what you just told this really, really mean looking principal.Why do they all have to look mean anyway?I mean couldn't there just be one principal that preferred petting puppies and bunny rabbits over sending students to detention.Ooh, sorry Anya," Willow apologized as she saw the ex-demon shiver slightly at the mention of bunny rabbits.They were still her biggest fear and phobia.

"And another thing; I don't appreciate you lying about what I said, you didn't even come to me about this plan of yours.And just because I would go along with it anyway is still no reason for not talking with me about it first, like you just told her you did, but you didn't and…and… I don't think that's right!" Willow paused for breath.

"WILL!!" Buffy yelled.

"What is it Buffy?" Willow asked in her soft conversation-non-excited voice.

"They can't hear you, and he was answering Dawn, not you." Buffy explained.Willow immediately started to try and make her face match her hair, which now fell around her head trying to hide beneath the locks."Oh," she answered in a meek quiet squeak.Hard to believe that this woman stood up to a Hell god, not once, not twice, but three times.And managed to hold her back/hurt her every time.

Buffy giggled and came up behind the embarrassed witch and hugged her with her right arm."Don't worry Wills.If anything, like I said, my sister the goddess is exactly like you, especially when she babbles.She didn't do it very often after she became a full god and developed herself to her full potential, but she still did it when in front of us, her favorite siblings."

"Even Ripper?" Willow questioned.After the day spent with Buffy, she had finally come to accept that Giles and Ripper were one in the same, and it was merely the positions that each held and what those positions forced them to choose and behave as.She assumed that it was the same for all of them, yet maybe least for her, Xander and one other god, one of Buffy's other children.One named…_Darla_.

Buffy named this particular one such because of what the name meant.It meant _dear one_.And Darla was born from a human/Buffy pairing, one in which Buffy loved the man a great deal.Darla was born with no powers, and was not even a half-god like most of Ripper's children.Yet, she was amazingly kind, and she could sing like no other in Amphora and had the most uncanny ability to read people and write songs about their lives and feelings.Thus, when she came of age, Buffy made her case for her daughter before her parents and her older brother, Joshua.They unanimously agreed that Darla would be made the Goddess of the Muse and the Music of all of Anton and before God Himself.

Apparently, as Buffy was learning from using her powers, Willow the goddess and Alexander the God of Justice were somewhat different from these two.The gods had responsibilities, very important and sometimes weighing responsibilities.Just before they departed Anton, Buffy had finally relinquished after much needling, Alexander was just coming out of a depression, and Willow was practically a paranoid freak.They had been in the middle of the discussion about Darla when Joshua had called them.

Speaking of whom, Joshua suddenly appeared in a silent flash of light just behind Buffy.(Note: He is not always silent when he teleports.There is a slight sound much like that of Q's on Star Trek.But {And this is important!} his teleportation signature is not that of Q's, but follows much closer to the Hercules and Xena formats.Aura of light around his body, making big flashes all around as a ball of energy goes from chest to head.)"Hey guys," he greets, "Sorry about disappearing there for a minute, but I had to take care of something real quick.Oh, and don't worry about the principal lady, she is now _thoroughly_ distracted." He added grinning.

Willow raised an eyebrow, briefly wondering if all gods are this mischievous, also considering Buffy's behavior earlier today in most of her classes."What did you do?" she asked, almost insistent that nobody get hurt.Or too thoroughly embarrassed by anything that the gods do.

"Nothing, I just distracted her and made sure that she would remain so for quite a while." Joshua answered innocently.Willow narrowed her eyes in suspicion, so Joshua added, "Honest!"

Turning to the now red mini-skirt, pink tank top over white T-shirt with matching white and pink flats clad blond haired goddess, (Descriptive enough for ya?), Joshua informed, "OK, now that we're pretty much guaranteed privacy, I think it might be a good time to become visible again, so that we can talk with Alexander and Dawn.Wouldn't you agree Buffy?"

Buffy smiled, she really wanted to talk with her sister again.The joking tone in her brother's voice however stirred her playful nature."Why yes, I do indeed agree that it would be a high time to become visible so that we, I, Buffy, Willow, my best friend and sister goddess, Anya, my other best friend and brother god's, Alexander's fiancée/girlfriend/lover/confidant/and morning headache and nighttime reliever, and you, my eldest brother, an Archangel and fourth ruler over all of the Realm that we were born in and rule with Heaven's permission, to become visible so that we might be seen by my older, yet only second oldest, brother and fellow god, Alexander, the God of Justice and Truth in our home Realm of Anton, the place that we were born and rule with Heaven's permission, and my mortal and blood sister Dawn to be able to see us so that we might converse and enjoy each other's company as good friends and family often do." Buffy droned on.

(I'm so sorry, but I had just finished watching an episode of the Power Puff Girls and I had that whole Mojo Jojo lingo goin' on in my head.So please forgive me!)

Turning to Willow beside her, "Would not you agree, my sister and best friend, Willow?"

Willow, previously on the verge of cracking a grin, replied deadpan and with no trace of emotion on her face, "Ofcourse I would not mind to be seen again, especially if we were to be seen by our, you and I, best friend's, Alexander, our godhood brother, and Dawn your other sister and my friend of the past year that we have known her.Yes, I think it a very good and stupendous idea to return to the realm of the seeing, not that we're blind or anything, or that I'm talking about another realm like our home Realm is another realm, but like so that we might be seen and…"

"ALL RIGHT!!" Joshua screamed.

"I'm bored now, what do you think is taking her so long?" Dawn asked Xander.

Joshua gave Buffy a look, raising his eyebrows in emphasis, and said nothing.With his mouth.Finally she grimaced in defeat as only Buffy can do, and held her hand before her and snapped her finger, just as Dawn was saying, "I wish that Buffy were here.I never get bored when Buffy's around.Well, not ever since she…"

Suddenly, all four were covered by the red, pink, and gold sprinkles aura that was specific to Buffy (and Aphrodite) and to them it seemed that was all it did.To Dawn and Xander, they all appeared out of thin air."…came…back…to…life……" Dawn trailed off as where she had been staring into nothing, suddenly stood Buffy and Willow, with Joshua and Anya behind them somewhere.

Again, Dawn went into her stuttering-I can't believe my eyes-speech."B-buf-Buff-Buffy?" she questioned as both she and Xander stood.

And in repeat performance, Buffy stood before her, smiled and nodded."Yeah Dawnie, it's me.Buffy," just before they hugged like the other was about to disappear into the void.Tears were spilt on both sides of the embrace as Buffy's humorous, fun loving and mischievous demeanor vanished in the very tangible essence of her love for her beloved sister, the girl that she had died for.Dawn was just really, really, _really, _**really,** **_really_** glad to see her sister, alive, and be able to hug her like this, just to prove that it's real and not and never was a dream.

After maybe two or three minutes, during which Anya and Xander had hugged also, and Xander noticed that Anya had been crying at some point, and Willow herself got a little misty-eyed from watching the sisterly reunion, Buffy and Dawn disengaged themselves, but not very far.Buffy looked at the black eye, and noticed that while it might have been aimed for the eye, it only hit the very sharp cheekbone instead.

"Want me to fix that for ya?" Buffy quietly asked.Dawn only smiled and silently nodded.

Raising her right hand, Buffy concentrated her energies once again.The palm of her hand began to glow a bright, but soft pink, and wherever the light touched on Dawn's face, it healed.The swelling that had only just begun several minutes ago began to reverse and the bruised skin faded as healthier and flushed skin took its place.After barely a minute, Dawn looked even better than she had that morning, when Buffy had seen her again.

Surprised, Dawn touched her face and then the sore spot that was no more.Then a frightened, confused, and shaken look crossed the young Summers girl's face."I-I thought you said that you weren't a demon…or anything else like that?" Dawn said as she also took in Buffy's slightly altered appearance.She had never seen her older sister dress in so much red.

Buffy grinned slightly, and brushed some strands of hair out of Dawn's face, just like she had always done.It was amazing how much she felt the same where Dawn was concerned, but with everything else, it was amazingly different.But Dawn was the same, and always would be the same she knew."Well, that was until I learned _how_ I came back.But don't worry Dawn, I'm not a demon, and I could never hurt you.I'm still the same Buffy Dawn.As far as you're concerned, I'm still the same Buffy," she responded softly.

"Maybe we should sit down and talk about this," Joshua offered as he came up beside the pair.He was briefly surprised to see that Dawn was actually taller than Buffy, by at least an inch, if not more.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Buffy replied distractedly, still staring at Dawn.


	11. CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER TEN

Authors Note:Sorry it took so long to finish this one.It just seems that the ideas aren't flowing as well as they did in the beginning.I've got the long term, for the most part, all figured out.The only problem is in the present of transferring to that long term.I also know that at some point I gave the impression that I don't want anybody to review this, but to be quite honest…I kind of miss it.Don't worry, whether people write back or even read this or not, I'm going to finish this whole thing to the point of at least one day back in their home Realm.Plus, and I know this speaks low of me, I could use some ideas, so if have any suggestions, Liam is NOT Angel, I already have somebody else as that character, that's why his name is Liam ((Hint-hint: look in EFC for that particular character.))Thanks to those that put this on their favorite story pages, because I've noticed that this story is already on like page 12 of the Buffy stories.I'm going to be working, later, in some crossovers, so I'll try and get this story, and it's sequels out there more.Thanks for reading.R & R.Please!

Chapter Ten

Slowly, everybody took a seat around the room.Joshua decided to let Xander have the big principal's chair, with Anya on his lap by the way, and just float several feet off the ground so that everybody might be in more or less of a circle.Buffy merely stood beside Dawn's chair and Willow took Xander's abandoned seat.

"OK, Dawn?"

The somewhat overwhelmed youth looked to the floating white-clad man (still wearing white T-shirt, jeans, and white sneakers), and her eyes widened upon noticing the floating.Buffy placed a hand on Dawn's shoulder, and Joshua made gestures of peace and calm.

"Obviously, you can see that Buffy and I aren't exactly pure human.And in several ways, Buffy never really was _pure_ human." Joshua began."Dawn, I know this will come as a great shock to you, but you have to understand, and believe that this is the truth.Dawn I cannot, and will not lie to you.Ever."

For whatever reason beyond her, Dawn believed him, and he seemed to sense this, so he continued." Dawn, your sister did die two weeks ago, when she died for you.But she only died in the mortal sense.To put it bluntly and simplest, Buffy's not dead because god's can't die."

Everyone stopped and stared at the young girl, waiting, judging her reaction.At first she was completely unresponsive, until she caught on to his actual words.Then she did a double take and it became obvious to everyone that she was thinking very hard, trying to figure out what this meant.To everyone's surprise, she asked a question that stumped most of them.

"But, if gods can't die, then how did Glory die?" she asked.

Xander, Buffy, and Willow all made various noises of confusion, ignorance, and curiosity mixed with complete bafflement.After maybe a minute of this, Joshua answered Dawn's unexpected question."Because Glory was trapped inside of Ben as a prison.When she escaped, and slowly the walls surrounding both personas dissolved, they more or less became the same person, but with Ben being the one with the weaknesses and vulnerabilities.Also, it was set up so that if Ben were killed, Glory would die the death of the gods.And before you ask, nobody knows what it is or what its like, all we know is that we no longer exist, in any plane, and that there are ways to kill gods, even for mortals.Its just that where we are from, we've been blessed with minor protections against such devices and evils."

The room was silent for a full 90 seconds before Dawn responded with, "Oh."

"So, are you…good gods, or hell gods like Glory, only…what?" Dawn asked, Buffy was giving her a funny look.

Joshua was smiling brightly, like a two year old had just asked the cutest question."We're good _people_ Dawn.That's the first thing to learn about when dealing with gods.If they're a good person first, it really doesn't matter what they're god of or where they're from.I'm an Archangel, so what does that tell you about me?I'm supposed to be the perfect saint and know the Word front cover to back.Well, I do, but believe me, I'm no saint.I get into almost as much mischief as Buffy here used to, when I can.By the way, I'm still paying for that last prank we pulled off together." Joshua informed his sister.

Buffy only smiled and shrugged in the slightest."What, that?That was like over three thousand years ago.They should have gotten over it by now," she retorted.

Joshua snorted and continued."Dawn, the point is, well most of the people you know are gods, Buffy's and mine brother's, sisters, cousins.And I'm here to re-awaken them and to take them all home, back to our home Realm in Heaven."Dawn suddenly tensed, sensing a very sickening déjà vu.Joshua closed his eyes and sighed, shaking his head.

"No, we are not going to use the 'Key'.In fact, I'm going to try and make sure that such a dangerous weapon is never used again." Joshua soothed her fears."We're going home a much more modern way.Once all of the gods have been re-awakened that is.But that is the real point."

Buffy scrunched her brow in confusion for several seconds, wondering what it was exactly that her brother was implying.And then it hit her.Hard.Her eyes widened in terror and the grip she had on Dawn's shoulder tightened to an uncomfortable grip, better than crushing though.Joshua nodded at her response."Buffy?What's wrong?" Dawn asked, knowing that Buffy only held her with such ferocity when something dangerous or extremely unlikable was nearby.

"When the gods go back home, Dawn, we can't go with them," came the reply.Amazingly, but not surprising, the answer came from Anya, who was almost cradled in Xander's lap now."Anya?" Xander asked.The brown haired girl only snuggled and held Xander tighter to her.

"B-Buffy?Is that true?" Dawn asked fearfully, looking up at her older sister.

Buffy did not respond.She was only staring, almost fiercely at the Archangel.Joshua could only begin to guess at her feelings, and he wasn't about to pry.But he also knew what her response was going to be.He had been working on the very issue ever since he had found out that Dawn, the Key, was Buffy's blood sister, not an easy bond to break, if at all possible.Ofcourse, he had known about Dawn since that morning, when he had arrived and heard the relation between the two.So, despite being the eldest in a family of gods, he hadn't made that much headway in the department of discovering the solution to Buffy's dilemma.

"Keep working on it," Buffy finally spoke.

Rather than offer any other kind of response, Joshua only bowed his head and nodded silently.The room was once more bathed in silence, until Dawn asked another question of the floating Archangel.

"So, um, if Buffy's a god, what does that make me?Are Xander and Willow gods too?What about Giles and Anya, or Tara?"

Joshua was in the mood for smiling that day."Buffy being a god, makes you her blood sister.Yes, Xander and Willow are gods-to-be, come the days of their re-awakenings.Giles and Tara are also gods-to-be.Anya, having once been a vengeance demon, and also being a born human before we arrived on this planet, is not one of us.It's kind of complicated Dawn, and rather involved."

"So explain it to me.You said we had time," the intelligent Summers girl stated.

Joshua had to concede defeat on that point.So he explained.Everyone taking part in one-way or another.The entire explanation, including Dawn's questions and various answers, Willow's taking the longest and Xander's the shortest, took roughly about thirty, thirty-five minutes.Finally, Buffy observed a previously very important fact.

"The sun is setting," she announced.

"So?" Joshua asked, not entirely understanding or "getting" the whole Slayer past thing yet.

"Oh, that's right, you wanted to patrol.Something about showing us what you meant about tapping into your godhood power after you died the first time, right?" Willow said.Buffy nodded.

"Oh, well, OK.Dawn, have you got any more questions?" Joshua asked.

Dawn shook her head to the negative and replied, "No, I think I got it now.Besides, I've never been on patrolling before.And now that Buffy's a goddess, she can protect me no matter what, and I can still go."Buffy grumbled something after that that no one really understood, but figured to be some kind of frustrated and annoyed remark about Dawn and how quickly she figured ways to get herself into the kind of trouble they usually wanted to avoid.

"Well, OK then, I'll take Anya and Xander to their cars, and Buffy, you take Dawn and Willow back to the magic shop and I guess we'll all convene there to plan patrol," was the last statement made as Joshua stood to his feet and offered his arm to Anya, who after taking Xander's as well, accepted and momentarily they disappeared in the Archangel's teleportation signature.Buffy pulled Dawn up and gave her right arm to Willow, who happily looped her left through it, Willow had gotten used to Buffy's form of teleportation and had even gotten to enjoy it now.

"Don't worry Dawn, I'm just going to show you one really cool part about being a god," Buffy explained as she took the nervous girl's hand and the next thing that any of them knew, there was a flash of pink and red light, a sound of bells, and a very intense rush of flying, or maybe falling, naked through artic winds, and then another flash and they were in the magic shop.

"Whoa!What the…what was that!?" Dawn exclaimed.

"That was Buffy's own teleportation.Gods can teleport you know, and they can even make stuff out of thin air, and Buffy told me that she granted a gift to Tara, because she was a mortal." Willow babbled.

"I thought you said that Tara was one of you, a goddess?" Dawn asked.

"Well, she is, but until she gets woken up, I mean re-awoken, uh, re-awakened, she's just a regular, well not including the witch part, or the fact that I think she's the most beautiful girl in the world, to quote a very famous song by some artist that I cannot remember the name of right now.Tara's just a mortal until she gets her godhood back."Willow finished after getting a warning glare from the love goddess beside her.

"Oh," Dawn accepted and went to sit down at the table like she always did when she was in the Magic shop."Hi Giles, sorry to here about you being Ripper and everything," Dawn greeted sorrowfully.

"Hello Dawn, Willow, Buffy," the watcher greeted from behind the counter, counting out the receipts from the day."Don't worry about it Dawn.I've come to terms, as best I can for the moment, with it and I imagine that it will be an enormous relief to be, if you'll pardon the pun, be reborn."

Both Buffy and Willow were somewhat surprised to hear this coming from the man, especially a non-Christian."So what changed your mind Giles, I mean about the whole, hiding the Ripper side of you so other people won't get hurt part of your mind that was changed?" Buffy asked.

Giles smiled and put down the papers he had in his hands."I found that you were right, in retrospect, about how I, Rupert Giles was crafted out of the Watcher Council's training…and then your love.In my college days, just before I became a Watcher, I was, well suffice it to say that I was a little rebellious."

"A little?" Buffy queried.

Giles gave his version of a shrug, "I was very much like this Ripper.You even had a chance to meet my former self Buffy, so you no doubt have a clue as to what I was like."

"I have better than that Giles, I remember the real Ripper, and believe me, only, and I stress only, if you had not gone into the Watcher's and instead gone into something like, oh say mass murder sprees and being a major syndicate crime boss, then you might've become just like Ripper.But for whatever reason, you chose to come after me, and I'm not sure how, but you knew that I had chosen along the blood line of the Slayer and there was a strong chance of me getting chosen, and look at that, lucky me.And I'm sorry about what I said earlier, I do love you Giles, and…and I'll miss the know-it-all Watcher father figure man in my life.But you'll still be there, I know you will."

"As I know that you're still there Buffy.Seeing Dawn no doubt touched something that only Buffy Summers should have had, a desire to always protect and guard her younger sister, the one that doesn't even exist." Giles commented, a slight gleam in his eye.

Buffy blushed and jumped when Dawn touched her arm to get her attention."Buffy, what's he talking about?" she asked.

Buffy quickly covered up her mistake and the truth of her tantrum from earlier."It's nothing Dawn.Hey, how would you like to go visit with Spike tonight.I think he'll be either extra glad, or end up dying all over again when he sees me.What do you think?"

Dawn smiled with more than a little hint of mischief as the thought of scaring/shocking Spike with the fact that Buffy was still alive went in small circles around in her head.The two were stirred out of their torturous musings as Willow switched to conscience mode."Buffy," she deadpanned.

"Yes Willow?" Buffy asked, almost cheerfully.

"Don't." was the only response.

"Don't what?" said the short blond goddess in the absolute cutest voice she could muster, (You all know the voice I'm talking about.)

"Just don't." Willow ordered.

Buffy broke the tension with a smile and promised.Less than five minutes later, during which Buffy was demonstrating, much to Giles' and Willow's annoyance, her power to create things out of thin air to Dawn.After the live full size African elephant, even Dawn decided it was time to call it quits.Finally Xander and Anya arrived and when they came inside Buffy asked, "Where's Joshua?I thought he was supposed to be with you guys, or at the most be back before you."

Xander just shrugged, holding Anya very close to him ever since he had learned what this whole godhood thing would mean to them.And Giles was right, Xander was angrier when he had found out that Anya would not be allowed to come when they left, and he had made a promise to her before they had left the school, he would find a way for her to come with him, and to live with him forever, no matter what it would take.Buffy knew about it, and quite frankly, approved.

"I don't know," Xander, answered his friend and "sister"."He dropped us off by the cars and said that he was going to look for Oz before meeting back with us here.He also mentioned, don't leave without him.I for one don't mind leaving right now though, just so you know my opinion."

Buffy grinned.For whatever reason, Xander had always minded, or disapproved is a better word, the men that were in her life, no matter how abnormal or even normal they were.She didn't really remember Alexander behaving that way.So why would Xander do that? she mused.

Before Buffy could respond to Xander's answer, another answer to Buffy's question appeared.There was a flash of white light and Joshua suddenly appeared."Oh, there you are," Buffy commented dryly.Joshua ignored her biting sarcasm, he was way too excited.

"I found Oz!" he announced.

"Really?Where?" Willow, also excited now, asked.

"Well, actually he wasn't too far from here, so he should be here in about a week, maybe less if he really wants to hurry." Joshua told them.Buffy was somewhat skeptical, given Joshua's known, to her anyway, history."Where did you find him?" she asked.At this, Joshua actually flushed a little, not much but enough to pinken his cheeks.

"Uh, Mississippi…" he replied.

"That's nearby?!" Xander exclaimed.

"To us, yeah!" Joshua defended.

"And where did you start looking for him?" Buffy pressed.

Joshua definitely hesitated, but finally answered with a very quiet, "Bangkok."

"Bangkok?You mean, like Bangkok, China?That Bangkok?" Willow asked.Joshua merely nodded, now a full flaming red.

"Uh, why would you think…" Willow began, but never finished as the front door to the shop exploded (slammed, not literally exploded) inward.Almost immediately, Joshua and Buffy were gone from everyone's sights.No special effects, just gone.Dawn began to panic, until she heard a tiny whisper by her ear, explaining in two words, "_We're invisible,_"The voice, despite whispered and sounding distant was definitely Buffy's.

"XANDER!!WILLOW!!" the voice of the man who entered shouted.Everyone turned to the man, more than a little surprised to see that it was Spike.No one had noticed that the sun had set shortly after Buffy and the girls had gotten back.

"Spike?" Willow ran to the terrified vampire, "Spike, what's wrong?You look like you've seen…well, like you've seen something really, really bad.Spike are you all right?"

Finally after much panicking and overexcited movements, Spike was able to answer."Xander, Willow!Must come…now…it's…must come, now!It's…have to see, you…have to see…come now…come…"

"SPIKE!" Xander shouted stepping up to the confused vampire.It did little good though.

Spike only grabbed Xander by the lapels, not roughly just grabbed him, and began to speak in his face, "It's Buffy!You…you have to come…they…did something…have to come, come now!Oh, hi Dawn,"

"Spike," Willow began calmly, "calm down and explain what it is that you need help with.Because how can we help if we don't know what the problem is?"

Spike finally calmed down enough to fully answer the redheaded witch."I was going to Buffy's grave, like I do every night, but when I got to the cemetery, the gates were blasted open, like…like a bolt of lightning or something had hit them.Or something just as powerful.I got worried, so I ran inside, and…and……"Spike hesitated and he seemed to be dealing with very powerful emotions.

"And when I got to Buffy's grave…it…it was…it was completely destroyed.Just a hole in the ground.Even the tree next to it was little more than smoldering ash.I…I don't know what happened, but I plan on taking out whatever has done this.And quite frankly I don't give a crap if you blokes help me or not, but I figured you'd like to know, and that _maybe_ you would like to help." Spike finished.

All the people in the room, including the ones not seen, and excluding the one that actually was dead, or undead as the case would be, exchanged looks, knowing exactly what had happened.Buffy and Joshua had their own private conversation.

_"Joshua, did you know about this, when you came to Earth today?"_ Buffy asked.

_"Well, obviously not since I didn't even know that _I_ had appeared in a bolt of lightning.But my guess would be that there is to be no records of the gods' mortal identities once they have been re-awoken.That would mean no memorial markers or anything like that."_ Joshua answered.

_"Should I…?"_ Buffy proposed becoming visible so that Spike could see her.

Joshua got a dark smile, if that's possible for Archangels, that only Buffy could see and shook his head no._"Let them handle it for a while.We can show and explain ourselves at the sight.Might even make more sense, given the superstitions."_

_"Superstitions?"_ Buffy queried.

_"That ghosts, or what have you always reappear back on Earth at their gravesites."_ Joshua explained.

_"Well, actually, that's not that far off, since I did reappear at my gravesite."_ Buffy pointed out.

Meanwhile in the land of the seeing, "All right, first of all, calm down Spike.Second, what makes you think that some creature or demon did this and not just two strikes of lightning?" Xander asked the chipped vampire.

Spike, if anything only became more annoyed and agitated."Look _Xander_.I don't know about you, but I think the odds are pretty high against that sort of thing happening in a single day, when it hasn't even rained.Also, Buffy developed quite a reputation for herself, being the most powerful Slayer of the ages, coming back to life, and calling a second Slayer.So whatever big bad meanies might figure that if she did it once, she could do it again, and so they completely obliterate and desecrate the body." he explained.

"That's a good point, isn't that a good point Xander?" Willow commented, giving Xander a very meaningful stare.

Xander could barely control himself enough not to smile as he nodded."All right Spike, we're all with you.Let's just get some basic supplies and we'll meet you at Buffy's cemetery…"

"NO!" Willow almost shouted.Everyone turned to her, more than a little surprised."I mean, no, we'll all go together.Don't worry Spike, we'll find out whatever did this, and then we'll handle it, together.OK?"

Spike seemed to want to argue for a second, and then he just drooped his shoulders and silently nodded.Dawn, ever the insightful one into the vampire's feelings, came up beside him and took him in a hug."Are you OK Spike?" she asked.

Spike was about to make some rude comment about being the toughest vampire on the planet, despite all contrary evidence, but said nothing as he held back fresh tears and shook his head.He explained in winded tones, though vampires don't breath, "I…I couldn't save her Dawn, I couldn't save her.I loved her with all the bloody hell that I am, and I couldn't save her for anything worth my own life.Dawn, she didn't deserve to die.And she doesn't deserve this.So by Hell, by Heaven, and everything else that will give a damn, I'm going to find out what has done this…this atrocity, and I am going to make them pay."Spike's tone went from that of a weeping man, to that of an angry and vengeful vampire that nothing would get in the way of, chip or no chip.

_"Heh, I can see why you were so concerned before.But don't worry, because it's pretty obvious that our little God of Balance here is pretty close to the surface, especially after knowing you it seems."_ Joshua commented dryly to his invisible sister.

_"Well, like I said, my love changes people.It changed Giles from a stuffy watcher into a caring and concerned father figure, it changed Willow from a shy computer nerd into a beautiful and brave young woman who is not afraid to be different, and does not need to be.And yes, it changed Spike, from just another master vampire, who happened to be dating an insane psychic vampire made by Angel, my former lover, into the man who is standing here, working with the Slayer's friends.Man am I good."_ Buffy praised herself.

_"Yeah, well, whispering in Willow and Dawn's ears like that isn't exactly being subtle in our plans._" Joshua commented.

_"And who said they were _our_ plans?I just want to see that look on Spike's face when he sees me again.You're the one that wants to make a prank out of it."_ Buffy retorted.

_"Yeah, well…so what?"_

Meanwhile, Giles, Anya, and Willow were gathering the usual tools for a night of patrol; stakes, crosses, bottles and water guns of holy water, an axe or two, swords for Giles and Xander, who both had seemed adept at using the weapons, and a protection spell for Dawn, prepared by Willow.Spike just pocketed a few of the stakes and pulled out his own axe before they left the shop."Let's go," Xander gave the cue for leaving on patrol.

Not much talk or banter was to be had as they walked in companionable silence to the desecrated grave of one Buffy Summers.When they reached the ruined gate of the cemetery, everyone noticed that there were several big "DO NOT DISTURB" and "NO TRESPASSING" signs planted around the melted metal, as well as a virtual web of "DO NOT CROSS" yellow police tape.

"Come on, let's go," Spike announced as he ducked under the tape.He stopped when he saw that everybody was still just standing around, looking at nothing."Well, coming?It's not like the trail is going to stay bloody warm all night.Come on then!"

What Spike couldn't see that they were all staring at was that Joshua had made himself visible again, but only to them, and he was telling them such right now.

"Hey guys, sorry about the disappearing act, but both Buffy and I felt that right now wasn't the time to show Spike who we were, or to tell him about everyone else, just yet anyway.Oh, and you all are the only ones that can see me, so Spike probably thinks your all loony right now, and I'd advise not talking to me directly." He was saying.

When nobody responded to Spikes angry outburst, he immediately became concerned.Well, as concerned as a vampire ever can get about anything."Hello?Anybody home?You've got to see this.Whatever bloody did this is probably more powerful than even Glory could dream about being.And I'm not about to let them get away with it." Spike then strode down the rows to where Buffy's grave had been.

"I'd like to think so," Joshua commented smugly to himself as Spike walked off.

"OK, now that he's gone, what the hell is going on Josh?" Xander demanded.

Joshua shrugged."To everything a season, a time and a place.Spike will find out, but after a little playtime for us godlings.Don't worry, it won't kill him or anything, we…I just want to have a little fun.And don't call me _Josh._My name is Joshua."

"Ooh, a little sensitive there aren't we _Josh_?" Xander taunted.

Joshua was about to respond with a really devastating comeback, but Willow interrupted before the Archangel could make the trembling mortal weep and cower from his words."Now's not the time for this.Let's follow Spike.And Buffy, I know you're here.Try to keep whatever _"special effects"_ you have in mind to a minimum.We don't want Spike trying to kill you outright."

Joshua was about to say something else, but everybody entered the graveyard leaving him almost at the exact point that he had entered the world.Finally, he sighed, shrugged his shoulders, and making himself invisible once again, followed the Slayerettes.Several tapes got in his way and caught on him or his clothing.After a brief struggle, which he was glad no one saw, he stepped away from the pieces of plastic and hurried after the others.Buffy was already in position.

As the group approached the gravesite that they had visited just that morning, everyone saw exactly what Spike had been referring to.The willow tree was little more than a charred stump next to a _really_ big hole in the ground.The grass for at least three feet in all directions around the hole was either blackened, ash, or just completely gone and nothing but dirt.The dirt itself was blackened, like scorch marks on all sides, and continued into the 7 ft. hole.It was more or less about 5 feet diameter, though longer on the top and bottom, matching with the grave's position, but the really interesting thing is, the two grave markers and sites on either side of the hole were completely untouched.In fact the grass was green and the stones looked almost polished next to the scorched earth before them.

"Whoa," commented Willow, the first besides Spike to reach the place.

"Whoa," Xander and Anya echoed together as they came up behind the other two.

"Oh my…whoa," Giles added after a minute or so of just looking at the hole.

Dawn said nothing.She was just looking down inside of the dark spot in the ground, trying to see some sign of her sister, her blood sister.But both Joshua and Buffy, and just about everybody else had explained that if the goddess did not want to be seen, she wouldn't be.Yet upon taking a close look, she began to see something.She couldn't tell what it was, but…it looked like…a…gold spark?

"Hey, what's that?" Spike asked aloud.After a moment or two of asking "what?" and looking around, everybody had noticed the gold spark that was within the hole.Then, slowly, the spark began to…float…upwards, until it was at the mouth of the hole.Once it reached that point, it stopped and began to flicker slightly.Then, it seemed to get brighter and stopped flickering, and started throbbing.

A minute after its appearance, the gold spark pulsating with unknown energy, began to spark itself.Shooting off dozens of other golden sparks that only dissipated when they reached the edge of the hole.The initial spark was continuing to flare up and was getting brighter.

"What's going on?" Spike asked fearfully.

"Buffy?" Willow quietly asked to herself, but the others, including Spike, heard her just fine.

"What does this thing have to do with Buffy?" the vampire asked his friend.

"Uh, well…" Willow paused for a moment, and to any looking at her, though none were, it would look like she was listening to somebody."Well…it, uh, might be what you said Spike.Buffy came back from the dead once, and well, maybe she's doing it again, but…flashier?"

The uncertainty in her voice was lost on Spike, yet the words he held onto like a blood bank."You-you…you mean that, she, maybe she, that Buffy might…be coming back to life?" he asked in an unnaturally timid voice for him.

In answer, the golden lights before them flared once more and then shot up in a blazing stream of gold light.Slowly, as though being put together atom by atom, a shape began to coalesce within the light stream.After twenty or so seconds, it was a decidedly human form, another ten after that, it was definitely feminine, and after much more time, a more familiar female shape was standing in the gold light.

The sparks died away as the figure took a few steps forward, yet the light remained, so the woman was cloaked in shadows.Spike, being at the forefront was the first that she came to, and she stopped less than a foot away from the taller vampire.This close, Spike didn't need to see, though he could, to tell that it was Buffy.Her smell, her shape, her heart, the heat radiating off of her, it was everything that he knew the Slayer to be, and more.

"Buff-buf-Buffy…?Buffy…is…is-is it really, really you?" Spike stuttered.

In response, she flashed him that million-dollar smile as the gold light faded and the group was bathed in only the moonlight."Why is it that whenever people see me, they always have to stutter my name?" she asked sarcastically.

Spike had no control over his reactions.If it had been him, then he would have either said something rude and equally sarcastic, or just said the honest, "Good to see you Slayer," or something else along those lines.Spike had absolutely no control over his reaction.He bent down and hugged the shorter woman in a bear hug that would have made anyone less than a Slayer, not to mention a goddess black out from lack of oxygen.He was also crying but what really shocked everything was what he was saying.

"Mother!Oh thank the Heavens and God All Mighty that you're all right!I thought I'd lost you, Mother!Please, please, please don't ever leave me like that again!!" he was practically yelling into her neck.

Her reaction, to the ones that didn't know that Spike was the Love goddess's son, was equally as puzzling to everyone.She had her arms around him, almost as tight as his around her, and was softly comforting and cooing, "It's all right my boy, it's all right.I promise you here and now, I'll never leave you like that again.Don't worry, mommy's here.Don't worry, I love you Spike, please don't ever forget that.I love you, and I'll always love you.It's going to be all right now."She was beginning to cry herself at this point.

"OK, hold on for just one darn-tooting minute!!" Xander shouted at the hugging couple.They didn't separate so he yelled louder, "BREAK IT UP!!"After this they suddenly broke apart and Spike realized what he had just done.

"Hey, hey, hey!" he exclaimed backing away from the "newly arisen" Slayer."What's goin' on here?Why did I just call you 'Mother' and what's with saying you love me, _after you're dead_?"

Buffy only sighed in resignation and took a step closer to Spike, who unconsciously took a step back at the movement.A look of utter betrayal and hurt crossed her face, followed by one of determination as she took one more definitive step towards the man before answering his questions.

"Spike, look at me." Buffy ordered."Take a good long look.Then use your other senses.Am I alive now?Am I Buffy?Am I the woman that you confessed to loving not even two weeks ago?Look at me Spike." She commanded again when he looked away, realizing that she was indeed all those things she had said she was.

"Look at me!" her tone a little harsher when he didn't comply.Finally he did, and when he looked at her, took the longest look at her he had ever allowed himself, he began to weep.Because he saw more than the woman he loved and had lost, he saw a woman that cared about him and loved him, albeit not the same way that he thought he loved her, and wanted him back in her life.Once again, Spike lost control, as he raced forward into the arms of the goddess and she fully accepted him, holding him as he cried his tears of love, of loss, and of joy.

"OK, I just want to reiterate in case nobody heard me the first time," Xander tried to break in once again, "BREAK IT UP!!!"

This time they two didn't even move and just continued to hold each other.That is, until there was a massive flash of intense white light.At the same instant of the light, a booming and commanding voice sounded out throughout the graveyard, and might have been heard as far away as Mississippi.

**_"ELIZABETH SUMMERS!!CHOSEN ONE!YOU HAVE VIOLATED THE BARRIERS OF THE CONTINUIM OF SPACE AND TIME!THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE ACTIONS YOU HAVE TAKEN!VERY UNPLEASANT CONSEQUENCES!SLAYER!!YOU HAVE DIED AND THEREFORE ARE NO LONGER ALOWED ON THIS EARTH!THE PENALTY FOR RETURNING WHERE YOU HAVE DIED IS TO BE DAMNED UNTIL YOUR NEXT LIFETIME!!SLAYER!!PREPARE TO FACE JUDGEMENT!!!"_** The voice boomed out.

The light suddenly coalesced into Joshua, though nobody was about to tell Spike that they knew the Archangel.He was also dressed very differently from the one at the gate.For one, he was dressed in white and light brown leather armor, symbolistic of early Roman attire.And he also had aqua sea green blue wings coming out of his shoulders.

'_So he does have wings,_' the group, excluding Buffy and Spike, all thought at seeing the wings.

"Buffy, what's going on?" Willow asked.She figured that if they were actually going to play this prank out, she might as well help out a little by playing ignorant.

Buffy turned to the Archangel and barely repressed a smile.Yet when she answered the voice's challenge, she was all business, "You're kidding right?I've fought demons, vampires, legions of both, and survived being thrown into hell.I've defeated a god, and destroyed a full demon.And you think that one measly little angel is going to drag my butt back to heaven, you've got another thing comin'."Well, as all business as Buffy ever gets.

"Slayer, I repeat what Red just asked, what's goin' on?" Spike repeated.

"I'm here to take her back home," the Archangel answered Spike's question, "even if I have to drag her back there kicking and screaming all the way to do it."He then seemed to pull a sword out of nowhere.

Buffy began to approach the standing white figure, but was stopped by Anya grabbing her elbow."Buffy wait, I don't think that that is any angel.I think he's an _Archangel_.And I also don't think that any _Slayer_ could ever defeat an Archangel." Anya then smiled so that only Buffy could see.Buffy smiled back and briefly placed her right hand on Anya's.

"Don't worry," she said softly to the mortal girl, as though to console some fear the young girl had.Then it was back to Slayer-mode, "I'll be fine.I can handle pretty much anything now.And just take care of Dawn until I get back.This won't take long."

The tall white-clad brown haired angel snorted loudly and commented, "I doubt it.Now, _Slayer_, I hope you know what it has cost you to say this brief farewell to your mortal friends.Until your next reincarnation, you'll be living in torment and anguish the likes of which none could imagine.Not even Dante.So if you want to add utter embarrassment to it by fighting me, then by all means, let's get it on."

"Wait, just a bloody minute!" Spike yelled as Buffy took two more steps towards the angel.

"What is it _Vampire_?" the angel asked, loathing and disgust ranging in his voice.

"Now let me see if I got this straight," Spike began."Just because the Slayer here came back to Earth without the big guru's permission, she has to live in hell until she's reborn?Well that overtly _bites_!Me ofcourse being the expert on things that bite!So how about this mate, you fight me, I win, you leave Buffy here, I lose, you fight Buffy and she wins and she stays here.How's that suit you Mister Blue-wings?"

"And what makes you think that I want to fight you?" Joshua asked him, a look of dislike his expression.

Spike just shrugged, stepped forward and got into a fighting stance."Because you always wanted to fight me," he replied in a casual tone that made the information seem like common knowledge.Which apparently it was, as the Archangel grinned and gave an unreadable look at Buffy.She just smirked and shook her head in slight laughter.The she made "go ahead" motion with her hand.

She stepped back with the others as Joshua's sword disappeared, and he shrugged and the blue wings disappeared.Joshua got into a similar fighting stance to the one Spike held, and then he launched a rapid punch-kick combo that Spike was barely able to block and avoid.Joshua kept pressing his advantage, keeping Spike as off balance as possible with kicks and rapid backhands.Yet, at some point, Spike seemed to just blur with inhuman speed to behind Joshua and attempted to grab him.

Joshua just smirked and stood there as Spike tried to either throw him or choke him from behind.Finally, he just gave up and let go of the angel and just kicking him squarely on his butt.Surprised, the brown haired man fell forward, and landed on his hands and knees.Muttering, "Oh, you are _so_ going to pay for that," he jumped from his position on the ground, in a back flip, behind the surprised vampire.

Spike turned around to see Joshua smiling at him, and Spike, about two seconds before he did it, knew what the Archangel was about to do to him.Still smiling, Joshua released a backhand from his left arm that connected solidly with the vampire's chin, and caused said vampire to actually fly back some thirty to fifty feet into the graveyard.A slight boom was heard as Spike impacted.

"And you thought vampire's couldn't fly," Xander commented in a humor-filled voice to Giles beside him as they watched Spike getting trashed.

"Yes, well it seems that I was wrong about that.I'll see to it that the necessary volumes are corrected," Giles responded in a somewhat nonchalant tone.

"Um, now that Spike's not here, Buffy, what's really going on?" Willow asked once again.

"Huh?Oh," Buffy turned to the redhead."It's just the prank Joshua told you about.Totally harmless, but Joshua really has always wanted to fight with Spike.Something about enjoying the competition.It's a long story, and I don't feel like getting into it right now.But suffice it to say, Joshua's pretending to try to force me back to Heaven, and when we fight, you'll see exactly what I meant about my powers Will.Don't worry, there'll still be a Sunnydale when we're through."Buffy laughed at her own joke.

"Oh, OK," Willow responded quietly as Spike returned to the scene, seemingly out of breath.

"Not too shabby _angel_," Spike retorted with the same venom Joshua was using for him."But as you can see, I'm still standing, and until I ain't no more, then you ain't won the fight yet, right?"

Joshua only snorted and moved into a fighting stance, and then really pissed Spike off by doing the "Matrix" 'bring it on' wave.Spike was on him faster than even Buffy could watch.They began to trade blows so quickly that if any part of their body wasn't blurring, it was an afterimage.Finally after both landing numerous hits to each other, all that could shatter brick or steel at the most, both fighters collapsed to the ground in seeming exhaustion.

"I'm not tired, just…I just need a little breather to figure out what I'm going to do with your sorry ass once I beat it black and blue." Spike excused for himself.

"Yeah, right!You don't even breathe.And I'm only conserving energy for when Buffy and I fight." Joshua excused for himself.

"Anyone want to take any bets?" Xander asked, the others.Willow and Buffy had taken to sitting on a couple of nearby headstones to watch the fight, and Anya was just leaning back against him.Somehow he easily supported her, what with her putting her entire weight against him.Dawn was in Buffy's lap, similar to the way Anya had been earlier in the principal's office, and Giles was standing off to the side, somewhat amused by the confrontation.

Buffy was the only one to respond to Xander's joke with a slight giggle.Once again the two unearthly beings stood to face off against each other.Spike struck first with a high kick followed by a high leg sweep.Joshua avoided both blows by doing a quick backwards somersault and a reversal up thrust kick.Spike barely ducked in time and the two fell into a steady rhythm of attack, dodge, parry, and circle.Finally, and hour into the night, Buffy decided that she was bored.And as Willow had discovered that very day, a bored Buffy can, at times, be a dangerous Buffy.

"All right, I'm bored now.How about this?" Buffy then pointed at Spike, who disappeared in the goddess's teleportation, and reappeared right behind her.As soon as she did, Joshua stopped pretending to be tired.

"Spike, I'm going to fight him.Don't worry, I'll win.I've gotten a little bit better since fighting Glory.And how about this, angel dude, If you let me spend some more time here on Earth so I can take care of what I have to do, or until my family and friends are ready to go to Heaven themselves, I stay here with them and do the whole Slayer bit until then, how's that suit you?" she proposed.

"Yeah, right like after all that he's just going to…" Spike began.

"OK.Mind if I stay with you for a while?" Joshua interrupted.

"Nah, I don't mind.I could use the company I'm sure." Buffy responded candidly.

The look on Spike's face was priceless.All the humans there started laughing as soon as they saw it."What?What is it?" Spike trying to figure out what was so bleeding funny when the woman he loved was about to face off against an Archangel so that she could stay with him…them, he meant.

The two gods meanwhile ignored the poor confused vampire as they faced off one another in the graveyard, approaching ten o'clock."How do you want to do this?" the angel asked the love goddess.

Buffy considered it for but a moment, and then answered in her "playful Slayer" voice, "Weapons, fisticuffs, then free-for-all.How's that suit you?" she asked back.

"Fine by me," he replied and the sword reappeared in his right hand.

As though by magic, a two-foot dark wood sharpened stake appeared in Buffy's right hand.They took up ready-stances, squared off against the other, and at an unseen signal, leapt into the air, straight at each other.

[OK, OK, Even I have to admit that this wasn't so good.The way it keeps jumping around and leaving half finished subjects.That's why I need ideas, and looking at Marcus and Anime freak, I wouldn't be opposed to a partnership, just tell me that you're interested in your Reviews and I'll release my e-mail so we can talk.Next:Big Fight scene, and a whole bunch of cool special effects!!!]


	12. CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Author's Note:I'm glad that everyone is enjoying everything so far.I know I promised a BIG fight scene and plenty of special effects, but I just really didn't have the strength, nor the time that I've given myself.But I set up a few more surprises in this chapter, and warning, there's only one more chapter to go before I move this to the sequel, _Ripper Giles: the War god._I won't be doing a sequel for every single god that is going to return, but because of so much backwash, I've decided to space this whole adventure out so more people can get at them.Enjoy!!

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**Chapter Eleven**

About one second before the two titanic power leapt at each other, Joshua quickly linked telepathically to his sister._'Are you sure about this?I mean _you've_ already seen Spike's face when he saw you, and I just had my fun with him, so I'm just asking, are you _sure_ about this?'_

Mentally, Buffy let out an exasperated sigh._'Yeah I'm sure.I was serious about showing off my godly powers to Will and the rest of them.Besides, its worth the special effects value alone.'_ She answered him.

_'Good point,'_ he responded.A moment later, _'Ready, set…aaaannnd…_GO!!'

At that they both leaped into the air at each other, flying at an uncanny speed.As they met midair, both blade and stake clashed and was followed by an intensity of light so great that even the gods themselves had to blink.As the smoke and light cleared, and after the spots had disappeared from everybody's vision, the audience could see the two still standing, but now, where the other had been.Buffy suddenly smiled, and at the same time, Joshua casually spun his sword on his wrist.

Once again, as though from an unseen signal, the two began to run towards each other, this time staying on the ground.As they collided, blade and stake once again met to clash in a struggling force of wills.As they held their ground and continued to push against the other, they group watching began to notice something.The two angels were _glowing_!Buffy was a pulsing and brightening pure pink color, while Joshua's seemed to also pulse, but with an aura of white backed with a glow of shimmering gold.

After maybe a minute of this, the auras around the two beings almost blindingly bright now, Buffy grimaced and decided that she wanted to change the action around a little.Taking a sudden step back, thereby tipping Joshua forward and forcing him off balance, she then brought the same leg sharply forward into his gut.Yet with enough force that the Archangel was thrown back nearly ten feet.Groaning slightly, he immediately stood up upon landing.

"Had enough yet?" Buffy asked humorously standing with her hands on her hips.

The brown haired angel just shrugged his shoulders, smiled, and leaped the distance between them in a second.Buffy barely had the time to register the move and counter it with her stake.At this close range, the two began to flow into something more similar to a sword fight rather than the power struggle that it had been up till now.Despite being shorter, and looking to be made out of a weaker material, Buffy's stake was proving more than adequate against the taller opponent's short sword (Nearly three and a half feet long).

Buffy was trying everything that the Slayer part of her knew in both avoiding the blade and working against it.Unfortunately, Joshua seemed to almost be holding back, so the fact that she was having trouble now was not exactly a good thing for the moment.She needed to change the situation to her advantage, into something she was a little more familiar with.Catching the sword against her stake, Buffy pulled a Xena by lashing out with her feet, kicking and running up her opponent, and then back flipping away from him after solidly kicking his head.

Landing some twenty feet away, Buffy noticed Joshua shake and hold his head slightly after the unexpected maneuver.Hoping to still catch him off guard, Buffy threw the dark wooden stake in her hand straight at Joshua's chest, knowing that it wouldn't harm him so much as totally annoy him.Joshua saw it coming less than half a second after it left the blonde's hand.Knowing, partly, what she was doing, he did the first thing that came to mind; he threw his sword straight at her head.

The stake and sword missed each other by mere micrometers, completely unaffected by the passing.Joshua barely managed to twist his body just so and bring his hand up in time to catch the flying projectile.Buffy just pulled a 'Neo' by doing the limbo and reaching up to grab the hilt of the angel's blade as it passed by where her head had been less than a second before.

Both paused to judge their new weapons, and as though with one thought, spun the tools on their wrists into ready positions.Taking a moment to gauge how the other handled their weapon, the two readied themselves and then as before, launched into the air, only to meet midway with stake and sword to clash once more.The resulting flash of light suddenly made it seem like noonday in the white sands deserts of New Mexico.

Once again, the two landed, once everybody could see again, in the opposite position of the other, only this time they both seemed a little out of breath.The two knew, and noticed this as they both glanced at the tools they held.The sword was cracked right across the middle of the blade, and the stake was splintered and was now only a foot long instead of two.Glancing back to the other, and noticing the condition of the others weapon, they both independently came to a decision.

"Fisticuffs?" Joshua shouted/asked.

Buffy nodded and cast aside the useless sword, it disappearing in a flash of white as soon as it left her hand.Joshua did likewise with the broken stake, which disappeared in a flash of red."Fisticuffs." Buffy announced and got into her ready position.Joshua got into a similar pose.

_'Didn't expect that,'_ Joshua linked to her once again, referring to the way the weapons had broken after the conflict.

_'Neither did I to be perfectly honest,'_ Buffy replied._'But then again, we never really have fought before, at least not like this.Maybe its because we both have equal amounts of strength and power or something like that?'_

_'Maybe.Though this is just, you know, pretend.I mean the sword I materialized I would sooner use as a pointer on a blackboard rather than a real fight.What about you?'_ Joshua asked.

_'Pretty much the same.For one, any stake over ten inches is pretty much useless unless you want to give yourself a whole bunch of splinters.That and I made it out of balsawood, dark balsawood, but still balsawood.'_ Buffy answered.

_'So the whole thing behind the weapons fighting was the amount of power we put behind the weapons, not the weapons themselves?'_ Joshua questioned.

_'I guess so.I wonder what might happen if we really did _fight_?'_ Buffy mused._'Oh well, we can think about that a whole other time.Right now, we have a fight to finish, and I want to show you some of the things I've learned while I've been here.'_Buffy unconsciously smiled as she thought that to him.Joshua mirrored her smile and returned, _'Bring.It.On.'_

Buffy didn't disappoint.

Running at top ground speed, the two quickly crossed the ten-foot distance between them.As they met, Buffy quickly launched a flawless flying roundhouse kick at the taller darker haired man.He barely ducked in time and attempted a sweep at her landing legs.Attempted.

Buffy kept up her momentum after missing the Archangel, flying a little further past him than he had expected and landing well out of his reach.Regaining his balance after his leg sweep, Joshua stood, gauged something about his younger sister, and with little more warning than that, came at her, fists blazing in streaks as they brought the fight into closer quarters.Buffy was somewhat surprised by the intensity of the attacks that her older brother was throwing at her.Back at home, in training sessions with him, being the princess required her to learn at the very least the basic fighting skills, he and her other older brothers went extremely easy on her.She ofcourse hadn't realized that until she had finally learned enough to knock one to the floor when they weren't really trying.Yet now, she surprised even herself as she found that she easily blocked or countered every single hit he was throwing at her.

I guess my times as a Slayer, among other things, really has paid off in this department, she thought to herself as she almost casually threw several punches aside.I wonder if I should go on the offensive, or if I should stay defensive, just to see how far he'll go? continuing her inner dialogue.After barely dodging a very well aimed kick, Buffy decided that was enough little miss nice Slayer.She barely even registered that she was still thinking of herself as a Slayer, when she had never been one to start with.Didn't really matter since she suddenly started to kick Joshua's butt.

Catching a slow hit in her fist, she called upon her god strength and powers, bringing out her full fighting power.Joshua was somewhat surprised to feel the changes in his sister.She had been avoiding almost every single one of his attacks for the past five minutes as though he were some annoying mortal vying for her attention.Now all of a sudden, she caught his fist and started to apply a steady pressure to it.It certainly didn't hurt, but the move surprised him.So, surprising her, before he was in her hold for too long, he kicked her solidly in the gut, and using that force, jumped back away from her some twenty feet.

As far as anybody watching Buffy's reactions were concerned, she just let him go.But both of them knew that something different was happening.The last time they had even watched each other spar was longer than before the time man started using the wheel.Buffy, as a goddess of love was never meant to fight the battles of her realm.In fact the only female gods that ever did fight, for any reason were Willow, Amanda, and Tyra, or Tyranny who was the Goddess of War and Chaos.

Yet after her time here on Earth, Buffy found herself needing to learn a good deal of skills in the fighting department.Especially after her first incarnation here.It was a trying experience, and it proved that she needed to learn to take care of herself.Being the princess meant she had been pampered and shielded above all the rest.It didn't matter as she recalled now how spoiled and utterly terrible she had once been.Two thousand years fighting for your life and the lives of your family and friends can change any person and not always for the better.

Yet this time on Earth had been good for them all.Ripper had learned compassion in the face of everything he feared and at the same time, respected.Alexander, who was on the verge of declaring an iron-fist clad justice system because of the insanity of dealing with so much injustice in the world he was supposed to protect, had learned the many facets of all that he knew, and had gotten back in touch with the strong-willed being that he had once been.Willow…Willow had been the worst of those that had come.Despite her sister and daughter's, and even her entire family's attempts at trying to help her, she was nearly driven to insanity by her responsibilities at being the Special Guardian of the gods.Buffy was nearly brought to tears as she thought again of the state her sister, her beloved and dearest sister, had been in just before they had set out on the mission to come to Earth.

Shaking her head slightly to get her mind back on the fight, Buffy began to gauge Joshua as an opponent, checking his posture, his stance, the way he moved, looking for any possible openings in his defense or a flaw in his offense, just like Giles had taught her.Finding her opening, Buffy started running as fast as her god-powered legs could take her, only to be stopped two feet from in front of him by a disturbingly familiar sound reaching her ears.A scream of terror piercing the night.

Joshua heard the same thing she did, at the exact same moment that she did, but he was still surprised to see her just stop like that, right in front of him after she was about to no doubt start kicking his butt.Yet as soon as the two gods heard the scream, she froze absolutely still, tense as a cat on the prowl.It was the next second that surprised him most of all.In a blur of her clothing colors, Buffy ran out of the cemetery and in the general direction of the sound.

Joshua altered his clothing to dark blue jeans, a white T-shirt and a mottled gray jacket and then ran after her at a more normal pace, but one that the others, who immediately followed, had to run harder and faster than they ever had to just to keep him in sight.Spike, obviously, was doing a little better than the others, so not exactly out of breath he asked what had been bugging him practically all night.

"All right mates, what the bleedin' hell is goin' on here?" he shouted/asked as they ran after the Archangel.

"'Huff,' 'huff,' Not, 'huff,' 'huff,' now, 'huff,' Spike, 'huff' 'huff,' 'huff,'!" Willow gasped in answer as she ran faster than she ever had in her entire life after her two friends and strangely, family.They were just rounding another corner into a dead end alley, where Xander and Willow casually noticed that they and Buffy had often staked many a vampire in before.

At the end of the alley, backed against a wall, was a scared and injured young woman in light jeans, a torn red shirt and ruffled black hair.Holding her by the neck against that wall was a tall dark scaled skinned demon creature.Its most…distinguishing feature was, aside from its smell, the fact that it was naked and…uh, well (this part should probably classify this as at least an R, but I don't think I can change anything now) his sizably large…uh, engorgement that was, despite being obvious in what it was, definitely irregular and not even close to human.

Behind the two against the wall were the two angelic creatures, Joshua, and Buffy, in all her Slayer glory.From the moment that her fight with Joshua had begun, she had changed her day outfit into something more…Slayer styled.She had flared black pants, a red sweater with a large V that showed off the dark pink turtleneck that she also wore.And for those that had been close enough to see it, she still wore the gold heart pendant around her neck.Her hair was wavy loose after the run she had just taken, and even though only the demon could see her face, everybody knew she was ticked.

Speaking of the situation; the demon was holding the helpless girl against the grafittied wall with one hand wrapped completely around her throat, but was looking back at the upstart of a blond that had just interrupted him.She was cute enough he thought as he looked her over, but too short for his tastes.Not to mention she seemed to like red, judging from her dark red sneakers.Not to mention she had just appeared behind him and called out…

"Didn't ya hear me the first time ya big galute?" Buffy retorted to infuriate the hell trash in front of her."I said, 'HEY big crooked and ugly, put the girl down, and try a real woman.Though I seriously doubt that you could even handle her, _small fry_!"

He bristled once again at the insidious insult she had just cast his way, and nearly did as she asked, dropping his prey, just so he could wipe that smug little grin off of her pretty little face.That's when he noticed the people behind her.The group that had been identified as the "Slayer's friends" stood at the mouth of the alley, but before them, and just behind this blond bitch, was what really grabbed his attention.An Archangel.

He grinned suddenly, a plan and several delusions of grandeur forming in his perverted primitive little mind.Then he did as told, he let the girl go.By throwing her straight at Buffy.Caught off guard at the tactic, Buffy easily caught the scared woman, and just barely managed to duck in time under the charging things assault.Expecting to have knocked the blond either aside with the girl, or kill her with his charge, the demon was caught a little off guard when he came to his real target, Joshua standing perfectly calm in the middle of the alley.

As the seven-foot demon reached him, he still didn't move, except maybe an eyebrow as, as suddenly as the demon had charged, a blinding white light filled the alley, covering view from Joshua and the demon.When the light cleared, the demon flew back against the wall that he had been holding the woman captive against just seconds earlier.He was more than somewhat surprised, and he wasn't the only one, to find him held, upside down and front against the wall by some kind of crackling white energy barrier.

**_"What…what, what have you done to me, stinking earth filth?!!"_** the demon screamed out in its gravely voice.

"Funny, cause I don't remember giving you permission to speak, _demon_.And you know perfectly well what I've done, just as you know what I am." Joshua answered it, contempt in every syllable of his voice.

The black-scaled demon only growled in any further response as Buffy tried to comfort the traumatized woman, and the others came further into the alley, trying to understand, having finally caught their breath, what was going on.Xander was first to speak.

"OK, I give, what is it?"

Expecting the answer to come from Giles, or maybe even Buffy, and at the least the Archangel that had just trapped it, Xander was more than a little surprised that it was Anya who answered his question.

"It's an Incubus demon.Though he looks rather…scarred, so he doesn't exactly look like he should, or like they all do, but he's an Incubus demon.You never forget the smell." She said deadpan, like explaining something very boring to a classroom full of asleep students.

"A what?" Xander asked, more shocked than confused.

"An Incubus, a sex demon…" Anya attempted to explain, but both Xander and Willow's hands shot out to cover the girl's overactive mouth."Anya, shut up," they chorused.

"Are you OK?" Buffy quietly asked the girl, grabbing everyone's attention for the moment.

The young woman, trembling, could barely nod.She was shaking like she was freezing, yet everyone felt the heat of the summer night.Buffy held the traumatized human closer to her and began to rock the poor soul gently against her, softly humming.After a short spell (of time), the girl passed out, but Buffy continued to rock her until Joshua spoke.

"What do you want to do with _it_, Buffy?" he asked quietly, pointing at the offending creature.

Buffy stopped humming long enough to say, "Give it to Ripper."

Joshua immediately repeated the question to Giles.Giles stared at the ugly creature, staying as far from the husking corpse as much as possible, the stench nearly overwhelming the closer one got to it.Finally he just answered, "Allow me to destroy it, with help ofcourse."Joshua nodded his agreement and made a slight gesture, removing the white energy field around the beast.As soon as it was free, the demon snarled and leapt once more for Joshua, except that Spike, Xander, and Giles got to it before it could get to the angel.Using swords and axe, the black scarred and scaled demon was little more than pieces of ick hanging from the alley walls in less than ten minutes.

"All right, I'm going to ask one more, freakin' bloody time," Spike loudly announced as he turned to his group of allies."WHAT…THE BLOODY…**HELL**…IS…GOIN' ON!!!"

"It's a long story Spike," Willow told him.

"Well, guess what Red, I don't bleedin' care!I've got the rest of my un-liven eternity to listen to it, so spill!" Spike shouted.

"After Spike, after…" came from the still rocking Buffy.

"After what?" he quietly asked, as though the image of the ex-Slayer would shatter if he even dared an angry thought at her.

"After I heal this unfortunate young woman, and we all get back to the shop." Joshua elaborated as he took steps towards Buffy and the young woman.Spike stepped in front of him before he got five feet to them."Hold on right there mate," Spike halted him.

"Let him past Spike, he's the only one who can heal the best…out of all of us," Buffy pardoned her brother.

Spike gave him one more suspicious look, then stiffly stepped out of the way, letting the angel get on his knees beside the terrified girl held by Buffy. He carefully looked over every detail of the woman, and then brought his hands before him, as though he were praying, which amazingly to every other there, he began to do.It was little more than mutterings and hushed whispers that none could understand and few but Buffy and the woman could hear, but it was still more than obvious that he was indeed praying.

Shortly after he began, his touching palms began to glow, and after he stopped praying, he placed them gently against the girl, his right on her forehead, and his left against her abdomen.Buffy had let the woman lay flat on the ground, allowing Joshua to properly heal her.Shortly after touching her, Joshua closed his eyes once again, and lifted his head skyward and began to pray again.This time silently.

_'Lord God All Mighty, Father of the Earth, the Heavens, and All that IS and shall ever be, I, your child and servant ask of you this night, Father, that You allow me to heal this innocent soul so that she may be saved and not taken before her time.This I ask of You, Father, in Your Name, I ask, let it be done, Amen.'_

As he did this, the woman was soon covered in the purest most cleansing white light that any had ever seen on the face of the planet.After maybe a minute or more of this, the light receded to Joshua's palms, and there faded all together.Shortly later, Joshua removing his hands, the woman sat up, surprised by the people she did not know around her.

"Uh, hello," she greeted timidly.

Joshua smiled and helped her to her feet as Buffy did the introductions."Hi, I'm Buffy, this is Joshua," she began pointing to herself and then her brother."And everyone else is, Willow, Dawn, Xan…uh, Alexander, Giles, and Spike." She pointed out each as they waved in brief greeting."Everyone, this is Jessica, Jessica Alba."

Jessica's eyes widened upon hearing this complete stranger announce her name."Who…who-who are you-you people?What was that…that-that _thing_!?What's going on here?" she screamed as she slowly began to back away from Buffy and the others, towards the mouth of the alley."Just leave me alone!" she finally screamed, as she turned and ran into the night.

"Buffy?What was that all about?" Willow asked, concerned.

Buffy looked mournfully after the woman running headlong into the darkness.After a time of heavy and anticipatory silence, Buffy answered, "She's my daughter Will.My youngest daughter, the soul of my eyes, and the keeper of all that is pure that I own.My little angel.Her real name is Maxabl (pronounce MAX-A-BULL), and she is my daughter."

Everyone was stunned into silence.Broken only by Anya, who already knew the answer to her stupid question, "So how many kids _do_ you have?" the ex-demon callously put forth.Buffy barely shrugged as she stepped to the end of the alley."I forget," she quietly replied.They followed her in her matching silence, Spike doing his best to old his curiosity and near-rage at what was happening to Buffy, until they reached the shop.And even then, it was held back by the door opening to let everyone in, and then it returned with a vengeance all its own.

_What do you think?If you ever pay attention to the real names of any actors, you probably know who this is.Author's Challenge!!:I'm running out of ideas for celebs and so forth to use as gods, and I'll use whatever input that is good and you're willing to share and maybe read.So R&R with ideas about celebs you'd like to see as super powered gods and what you'd like them to be.Thanks for the input.See you in a week!!_


	13. CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER TWELVE

**Chapter Twelve**

An hour after the incident in the alley, with Buffy's unknown daughter, and after running a quick, but thorough, patrol through all the usual haunts, and taking out seventeen vampires and two other demons, both types that Anya gladly pointed out, total, everybody headed back to the magic shop to explain everything to Spike.

The silence that had reigned for most of the evening was only battled by the opening door and the shuffling of everybody to the back table, and then the door being slammed shut by a very annoyed Spike, who had been pestering like the king of the terrible twos all night for the explanation he was about to get.Once everybody was sitting, excluding the vampire and Archangel, Spike pestered once again.

"All right, for the last time, what is the blumin' secret that is Buffy and this winged bloke here?" he shouted, annoyed beyond anything describable.

"Spike, sit down," Buffy quietly ordered of her son.The chipped vampire took but one look at the blond, red clad goddess, and immediately, and quietly, did as told.

"Spike," Buffy began, only to have Willow take the reigns before she could get another word out.

"Spike, we're gods.I know how that sounds and everything, considering that we just killed a demon god two weeks ago, but we're, we _all_ are good gods.You know from Heaven." Willow babbled.

"What Willow's trying to say," Xander took up, "is that we all went to visit Buffy this, well that is Buffy's grave, this morning and say our little…uh, things.Anyway, Tara saw Buffy there, and when me, Will, and Dawn were about to get in the car, we turn and see Tara, with Buffy walking beside her.Anyway, about three seconds after Buffy gets to us, there's this massive flash of light and this…this HUGE noise that makes me deaf for like…a minute, and then…"

"By the way, that's when I came on the scene," Joshua interrupted.

Xander, having lost his flow of thought, stutters, after throwing Joshua an annoyed look, and fails to resume.Buffy takes up the slack."Anyway, Spike, as unbelievable as it may sound, we really are all gods.About two thousand or so years ago, the gods of our home Realm, which is called Anton,…"

"Anton?" Spike interrupts, unbelief lining his tone."Who the bloody hell named the place Anton?" Spike unconsciously takes out a cigarette and a lighter.Buffy waves a hand and the cigarette is replaced by a red heart-shaped lollipop, and the lighter is just gone.Shocked, Spike doesn't even stutter, and then looks accusingly at the former Slayer.The look she returns, not only tames him, but causes him to pout a little and put the lollipop in his mouth grumpily.Buffy smiles brightly.

"Actually, the humans of our Realm named it such, as well as all the lands, features, formations, and to some degree, even some of us." Joshua answered Spikes question.

"Really?Wow." Willow exclaims.The two gods just smile.

"Anyway," Buffy continues, getting everybody's attention back on her."About two thousand years ago, we had to leave our Realm, and so we were allowed to come to Earth.Once here, we had to stay here until we were called back home.So, we came up with a plan to…incarnate ourselves, our bodies and spirits into normal humans.At least that was the plan.Most of us, at some point or another ended up having some kind of special power, or gift, or trait, or maybe even mission as humans that made us…more than just normal mortals."

"For example, in my first life here on Earth, I was born into the life of a princess, unfortunately, it was this princesses sacred duty to fight and destroy a type of demon known as 'Shadow Spirits.'Good news is, I, or she, or…whatever, defeated all of the 'Shadow Spirits' and trapped them for the rest of eternity in something that they could never get out of.Which is why, thank the Heavens, the Slayers, and nobody else has had to deal with them for over a thousand years.See what I mean?" Buffy finished her part.

"OK, kinda, yeah," Spike started."But what I don't get is how I, and the rest of these…us, fit into all of this."

"You're out brothers, sister, and cousins." Joshua stated matter-of-factly.

"What?" Spike asked, totally confused.

"Spike," Willow grabbed his attention, "Buffy's my sister.My godhood sister.Alexan, um Xander's our brother, and Giles is our cousin." She elaborated.

"Uh huh," Spike had a glazed 'not quite here' look in his blue eyes."So, you're my sister, and…" Spike tried.

"No, no I haven't made myself clear," Willow corrected."Buffy is the princess of the gods, because she was the first daughter born in Anton.Joshua is her older brother, and Alexander, um Xander, uh…"

"It's OK Will.I might as well get used to it again.I just never liked to be called Alexander because that's what Mom always called me when I was in trouble." Alexander pardoned for her.

"Oh, OK.Well, after Alexander, as I understand how it goes, Buffy was born.And then a whole bunch of other people, and I'm like the youngest daughter or something.And Ripper, that's Giles' god name, was born from our uncle I think.Anyway, you, uh, you're one of us, but you didn't have the same parents, uh…"

Willow glanced at Buffy, who nodded, smiling ever so slightly, and held Dawn's hand a little tighter.(Oops, forgot something.)Buffy was sitting in the same chair that she had been sitting in all day, with Dawn on her immediate right.Past Dawn was Willow, who was on the left of Anya and Xander, the brown haired ex-demon choosing once more to use her lover/fiancée as a sitting tool.On the other side of the table was Spike, and Giles on the side between him and Buffy.Joshua was leaning against a bookshelf not far from the table between Spike and Xander in position.

"Uh, Spike, your parents…um, your, well, your _real_, godhood parents.What I'm trying to say, um…is, uh…" Willow tried again.

"For cryin' out loud Red!Just spit it out!" Spike shouted, startling the young wiccan.

"Buffy's your mother." Willow speed-spat.

The shocked look on Spike's face was worth every Kodak moment since the invention of.Joshua grinned, but managed to contain himself, while the erstwhile mother snickered a little from her sudden giggle-fit.

"It's not funny," Spike deadpanned to the ex-Slayer.

Just managing to hold back her laughter, Buffy responded, "No, no it's not.But your face is!" and then she, Dawn, and Willow to the degree of smiling widely, broke out in laughter and giggles.

"It's not funny!" Spike repeated, louder, slightly angry.But the laughter didn't stop, and soon even the enraged vampire found himself turning a slight grin at the situation."Well, OK, maybe, a little funny.But that's all!"And then he chuckled at himself.

"The point is Spike," Joshua interrupted, killing the laughing mood, "I'm here to bring all of you back.All of you."

"That means that each of the gods have to be re-awakened, and once that is done, we head back home.Fortunately, we have all the time that we'll need to find everybody, and remind them of who they are." Willow elaborated.

"So, if that's the case, how come the rest of you aren't already 'gods'?Or are you and your just pretending to be normal for little ole me sake?" Spike asked suspiciously.

"No Spike, we're still…uh, we're still mortal." Willow answered."We can only do the re-awakenings one at a time, and because we're living on top of the Hellmouth, only one a day.Buffy, after reappearing, regained her memory and full powers just this morning, so Giles is going to be tomorrow." She further explained.

"Oh," was the only response a very overwhelmed Spike could give.

"Spike, honey," everybody started at the love goddesses use of the affectionate term, she ignored it."I know how this might sound and everything, but it is very real.I have seven children total, to answer Anya's earlier question.Three boys and four daughters.You are my second born Spike.You are also the God of Balance and Forces of Change.We…we have to re-awaken all the gods in, in a specific order.I, since I reattained my powers and not my memory, was first, and therefore Ripper has to be next, and then Tara, the Goddess of Peace and Purity.After Tara, Alexander will most likely be the next to gain his powers, and then I have to go and find the other gods that are not here."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Joshua shouted."Who said you would be going?I already found Oz, and he's on his way here now.As for when the time comes, I'll go and find the others.But I repeat, what made you think that you would be the one to go and give everyone back their powers?"

Buffy just smirked gaily at her older brother and stroked Dawn's arm a little before answering."Because I'm the princess.That and I was the first awoken, and have spent the past two thousand years on the planet, same as everybody else.You haven't.And despite your superior tracking skills, I could probably find everybody a whole lot quicker than even you could.Now, I'd let you come along, but I will be the one to go and find the Charmed Ones."

"Charmed Ones?" Willow asked, the name striking a chord of memory in her mind.

"Cordelia's three daughters.Actually, to us, they're called the Empowered Ones.Together they control the forces of Space, Time, and Destiny in our Realm, and therefore are the most powerful, second only to our parents and our Special Guardian, of all the gods.Here, they have similar powers, but are witches and are called the Charmed Ones.The most…"

"The most powerful witches in all the world." Willow finished for the goddess.Then she did a double take."Wait, the Special Guardian is more powerful than the _Charmed Ones_!!?_I'm_ more powerful than the three most powerful witches on the planet?You're kidding right?"

"What's she talking about, _Mom_?" Spike teased the blonde.Buffy smirked at him and answered Willow.

"Well, not yet.You have a lot to, well relearn.But by the time that you regain your powers and knowledge, then yeah, you'll be more powerful than the Empowered Ones.And for a very good reason too Willow.You remember what I told you about the Special Guardians?" Buffy asked.

Willow nodded solemnly, still somewhat overwhelmed that she had done, and would hopefully do again, some of the things that Buffy had described about the powers and responsibilities of the Special Guardians of the Realms of Heaven.A Special Guardian was a member of the Realm that had access to the powers of Heaven itself, only after tapping into every other power of the Realm she therein existed in.Almost all of the Special Guardians were she, and were often very young.At least in appearance.Willow, having been born a god, was stuck in the body of an eighteen year old, the body that she had lost her virginity in.That's what it meant to come of age, Buffy had explained.Buffy still looked like the fifteen year old that had first been called, despite everything that had happened.

The responsibilities of the Special Guardians was to protect the Realm from just about everything that the gods did not either control, or had the power to stop themselves.The Guardian was also meant to protect the gods themselves from any thing that might possibly threaten them.From an arrogant mortal who tried to steal their power, or because they didn't like what one god had done, tried to find a way of killing them all.Or even on the off chance that some unknown evil had entered their Realm, and it was her job to fight it off.To put it basically, she was the bodyguard of the gods.Now she knew why her past life incarnation had been a paranoid freak on the verge of a mental breakdown, the job had gotten to her.

Seeing that Willow knew what was being asked of her, Joshua intervened, noting the time."OK, I think that that should do it for a night," he said cheerily."How about we all head on home and get some rest, and then we'll meet back here, say what?Eight o'clock in the morning?"Seeing no disagreement, "Well, OK.Spike, if you pretty much understand everything, then I guess that we're done here and we'll see you here in the morning?"

Spike snorted at the thought of walking through either the sewers, or the very bright sunlight just to come and watch Rubes, or was it Ripper? Become a god.Seeing his reaction, Buffy gave him a look, and he immediately began to sheepishly examine the floorboards.Buffy grimaced slightly, as though coming to a weighty decision, and then let go of Dawn's hand, surprising the young teen, and then stood up and walked over to Spike.

"Spike, stand up." Buffy ordered.The others wondered what was going on.

"I know what this has done for you, and I know how you feel about it, but I also know that knowing what you now know, you'll use this gift wisely.Do you understand me?" Buffy stared straight up into the blond vampire's eyes.

Somewhat wary because of her words, Spike considered them.Thinking that he understood, he slowly nodded his head.Smiling briefly, Buffy also nodded and put her hands to Spike's shoulders."This might hurt a little.I'm not really sure though, I've never done it before." She warned him.Fear suddenly crept in with that wariness.

Taking a deep breath, the Princess goddess moved her hands from Spike's shoulders to either side of his head, just above his ears.A look of intense concentration etched in the shorter woman's face, everyone looked on in wonder and amazement as an aura of pinkish red surrounded both the vampire and the goddess.

Buffy looked at herself, and gathered as much power as she knew how to, to prepare for what she was planning on doing.Then, following the strand of power that linked all gods to their children, Buffy looked at Spike before her.She focused on the body section of his power and soon found herself looking at everything any doctor could possibly ever learn about vampires, as well as an X-ray picture that clearly showed where the government chip was.Drawing upon the power that she had gathered, as well as a good portion of her reserves, Buffy reached out with her power and began to extract the chip from her son's head.

The first thing she tried to do, obviously, was to just yank it out, but she immediately felt the pain that such a maneuver had caused Spike.Everybody was more than a little surprised when Spike suddenly cried out in pain and tried to either jump away from his "mother" or to fall to the floor in writhing pain.He did neither, just standing there, surrounded by Buffy's aura, with her hands on his head, squinting his eyes in intense pain. Buffy, as soon as she realized what she had done, soothed the sparking nerves and tried as best she knew how to numb the rest of Spike's brain.She tried to think of a way to remove the chip that wouldn't rip off her son's head in the process.Then she thought of it.

Applying power to the spell was the easy part, focusing it _around_ the chip rather than into it so that it wouldn't spread to Spike's body was the hard part.It took about twenty, thirty seconds for the spell to be cast, and then just like that, the chip was invisible and therefore slightly out of phase with the matter and reality around it.Using another somewhat simple, yet rarely used spell, Buffy levitated the invisible chip through the necessary pathways and crevices of Spike's head, and then just like that, the chip was out and in her hand.And all Spike had left was a numbing headache… and the power to hurt humans once again.

Withdrawing from Spike, Buffy removed the spell from the chip and fully disconnected herself from the de-chipped vampire.The glow faded, and the two stepped back from each other, Spike rubbing his forehead slightly in diminishing pain, and Buffy, ex-Slayer, Love goddess, fainted on the spot.Joshua, Spike, and Alexander were the first ones to her, all getting there at the exact same moment, everyone shouting, "BUFFY!!"

Some time later, with everybody, including the afflicted, blaming Spike for Buffy's fainting spell, Buffy came around, though she looked horribly weakened."Unnhhh…" she moaned from her resting position on the table.Everybody immediately surrounded her on all sides and at the same time asked out loud, "Buffy, are you all right?"

When Buffy opened her eyes and looked around, she closed them again and put her right hand over them and chuckled weakly."This is getting to be a _reeaaaal_ bad habit," she mumbled.

"Buffy, are you all right?You fainted." Willow repeated.

Trying to sit up, the blonde love goddess, felt every ache that she had ever received, whether that be as Goddess Buffy, or Slayer Buffy, or some other incarnation.She moaned slightly and laid back down."I'm fine," she said with more strength and confidence than she had at that moment.Willow, Xander and Dawn all smiled.She was going to be all right, even if she wasn't for the moment.

"How do you feel?" the little wicca asked, keeping her voice calm and soothing.

"I ache.Ache covers me.If I were to be dead, which is somewhat an ironic thing to say, I would have died every death a human could die, many times many times over." Buffy answered.

"OK, besides ache, what else do you feel?Is the hurt focused on any one part, or is it like a fever kinda ache?" Willow questioned.

Buffy was silent for a moment, her right arm covering her eyes.Finally she answered her youngest sister in an even weaker voice."I'm tired," she whispered.Willow thought about this for about three whole seconds before shooting out her next question."When was the last time you ate Buffy?"This question somewhat shocked the others, Spike the most who thought gods didn't need to eat.

Buffy was silent once again, until, "Lunch.With you.The nine hamburgers, two pizzas, and seventeen cakes.Sorry about wasting your money like that Will.Again." Buffy apologized.

Willow waved it off with her hand and dismissed the apology."I told you, don't worry about it.Right now, we just have to get some energy into you.According to what you told me today at lunch, the more powerful spell that you do, the more energy that it requires from you, and thus the pig fest today at school."

"Hey," Buffy exclaimed, feeling insulted."Sorry," Willow apologized, not sounding apologetic in the least."But after all the spells that you've been casting _since_ lunch, along with the fight with Joshua, along with all the vampires you alone dusted, _along_ _with_ whatever you did for Spike, you're completely drained.And I don't think materializing a dozen pizzas is going to help you all that much.And Mario's must be closed by now, so what do we do?We have to get some food into her." Willow looked to the others.

Everybody, including Spike and Dawn, looked to Joshua, who just shrugged and sighed slightly.Then he held out his left hand, and in it materialized a gold goblet with a strange glowing orange fluid in it.He stepped closer to Buffy, and signaled to Alexander, who was on Buffy's other side, and together they lifted her into a sitting position.Buffy opened her eyes and stared at the liquid concoction in front of her."What is it?" she asked weakly."Something that you need," Joshua stated.

Slowly, Buffy took the goblet in her hands, Joshua still steadying it, and she took a long drink from the goblet.And then immediately gagged on it, but still swallowed it."Aggghhhhh!cough cough, what, cough cough cough, what is that stuff?!!!" she shouted, pushing it away from her.

"What do you think it is?" Joshua asked sarcastically, knowing that she really did know what it was that he had materialized.

She looked at him disbelievingly, and then with disgust."It isn't." she stated."It is," he returned.She turned on the gold cup with a look of such utter disgust and revulsion, it's amazing it didn't melt under her gaze.With a sneer worthy of a super villain, Buffy noted the orange concoction as, "Ambrosia.Greek ambrosia."And then turning on her eldest brother, "It's slime."

"It helped you gain a little bit of your strength back.And even I have to admit, it ain't the greatest, but it is as the saying goes, 'the food of the gods.'" He replied with a weak grin.

"Then you drink it," she says, disgusted.He looks at the orange drink in his hand and sneers a little himself.Turning back to his sister, "Well, then what would you rather have?"

"I don't know.Maybe can you come up with something a little more…well, modern?" she asks.Joshua thinks for a second, and then an idea lights his face, and with a flash of gold light, the lumpy orange fluid in the gold cup is replaced with an equally strange orange liquid in the gold goblet.Handing it back to her, she repeats her first question, "What is . . . ?"She stops when she smells the light soda in the cup.Taking it with surprising strength, even for a former Slayer, she puts it to her mouth and begins to down the drink almost unhealthily quickly.

Surprised, most in the room turn to Joshua, while the other half continues to watch Buffy down the drink."So, what is it?" Willow asks Buffy's unfinished question, half looking at the Archangel, half looking at the gulping Buffy.

"Gatorade," Joshua states quite simply.At everyone's raised eyebrows, he responds, "Hey, she asked for something modern."

"I never knew Buff liked Gatorade so much," Alexander comments as they all stare at the still swallowing goddess.

Some moments later, "Shouldn't she be done by now?" Anya asks.

"Oh, I, uh, I cast a spell on the goblet," Joshua explains."It'll never be empty.It continuously refills.Apparently, even if somebody is still drinking from it…" he trails off as they continue to watch the blonde gulp down the orange liquid.

Several moments after that, "Um, how long does the spell last?" Dawn asked."Till I…vanish…the cup…" Joshua answered, distracted.

"Can you do that with her still drinking?" Dawn pestered.

"No, I have to be holding the cup to…whoa!" Joshua exclaimed as he watched Buffy lean her head back further to get even more of the regenerating drink into her body.Everybody stared in total amazement and total disbelief as they watched their friend and sister/cousin/mother take an impossible amount of the drink into her all at once.Finally Willow had to know.

"Um, Joshua, is…is this…safe?" she stuttered out.

"Huh?What?Oh.Well, yeah, I mean, I guess.I know that I've never…tried…to…" he trailed off in his answer as he continued to watch Buffy's throat, it moving up and down at an incredible rate."I'm sure she's fine.Just really, really, really…really thirsty." He finished.

Several moments after that, spent in silence, Spike asked something that they hadn't worried about until now, "Doesn't she need to breath or something?We don't want her drowning again."

"Uhm, no.Gods don't _need_ to breath.But we do, and it really doesn't matter.But none of us ever, shall we say constantly eat.Then we might actually begin to _look_ fat.Plus, gods can't drown.Unless they're mortal, which Buffy isn't at the moment, and therefore there's really not much danger of that Spike." Joshua allayed.

Another period of silence, and Buffy's gulps suddenly became quite audible."You think she's getting full yet?" Willow asked.Alexander smiled and replied, "Naw.Don't you remember when she was just a Slayer.She was a bottomless pit then.Now that she's an exhausted goddess, she's a black hole." Xander joked.

Nearly a whole minute of silence later, "Uhm, OK, how long has she been at this now?" Alexander asks, growing a tad concerned, though for other reasons than Buffy's stomach issues.

Anya looked at her watch and raised her eyebrows in slight surprise."For over three minutes now," she answers her lover's question.

"_Only_ three minutes!!" Alexander exclaims."It feels like she's been at this for a half an hour."Everybody stops at those words, and the future god of Justice puts into words everyone's thoughts right then."You don't think that she's actually going to be at this for a whole half an hour, do you?" he asks each in turn.

"Well, she bloody well not try," Giles comments angrily."I've got a big day tomorrow, and I don't plan on being as tired as she is now.So if she doesn't stop this in the next five minutes, I'm going home to bed."

"Now you're starting to sound like Ripper," Joshua dryly comments to the older gentleman.

"Well, yes.Ever since I've come to terms about it, I've been, how shall I put this, letting go a little more." Giles explains, blushing slightly as he does so.Joshua just bats an eyebrow.

After another whole minute, with Buffy still the center of attention, even Willow is bored.

"Buffy, if you don't get your face out of that drink right now, I promise you, I'm going to spill it all over your blouse," Joshua warned her.She had no response except to gulp just a little louder.

"Geez Slayer," Spike exclaimed, "You sound like me and Dru at Christmas!"

The blonde goddesses only response to that was to quiet down a little, but she still kept drinking."Buffy, I'm getting bored.And a promise is a promise, especially one made by an Archangel." Joshua warned once again, for the last time.

Apparently taking it seriously, Buffy finally, (**HEAVY** emphasis on **_FINALLY_**), tipped her head back forward and swallowed a final time."Ohhhhh!I _so_ needed that!" she gasped as she handed the full goblet back to Joshua.As soon as it left her hand, she materialized a tray chock full of a mountain of chocolate.Her other hand immediately began to shovel them all, one at a time, into her temporarily vacated mouth.

"Hungry?" Joshua asked, amused as he vanished the goblet.

"Mmmm," the goddess groaned between bites."Oh yes!You would not believe how much energy that last spell took.I mean, I was going to eat as soon as," pause for another chocolate and heavy chewing, "as soon as I, ummm, I made sure that Dawn got home safe.Then we had our little talk with Spike, and I saw an opportunity to not only prove what we told him was true, but to kind of test his loyalty, and give him something he's been wanting for months." Buffy spoke around the chocolate in her mouth, swallowing after the word "true".

In less than a minute, half the tray was gone, and the other girls not eating in the room, mouth's were watering.Only one had the decency to ask."Um, Buffy, I don't suppose that I, or maybe we could…" Willow trailed off as Buffy switched hands so that the other girls could help her devour the tray of candy.Immediately three greedy hands were helping the first to remove the brown lumps of sweetness.In unison, all three groaned as the milkiness of it melted in their orifices.Buffy smiled in a strangely mischievous way as she watched her sisters, and sister in law to be, ate the very chocolate that she had willed into existence.Not a minute later, the tray was completely empty.

"Now if you're finished eating, for the moment, _Slayer_," Spike said, contempt and annoyance lining the word, "Maybe you wouldn't mind explainin' what it was exactly that you did to me."

Replenishing the tray of chocolate, this time with pink icing cupcakes, with a flash of red and pink light, Buffy grabbed the one on top and sat the tray down, peeling the cupcake just before answering Spike's question."I removed the chip," she said as though commenting about a bug.

The reaction, delayed by overwhelming shock, was instantaneous and spread throughout all mortals present, also including the affected vampire."What!!??!" everybody shouted at the eating young woman.She shrugged, and swallowed the bit of pastry in her mouth and repeated, "I removed the Initiative chip."

Spike just blinked in total confusion and disbelief.Willow and Anya had distracted looks on their faces, but you could still see the initial look of surprise on their faces.Giles actually looked angry, while Alexander mirrored Spike in his confusion and disbelief.Joshua really didn't care, he was still amazed at the feat Buffy had completed with the goblet.Buffy, choosing to ignore everybody's reactions, finished her treat.

"What do you _mean_, you removed his chip?" Xander shouted at his sister/best friend.

Buffy, calmly evaporating the wrapping in her hand, ignored him until done with that, and then still calm, turned to him and gave him the "death by the Slayer's eyes" glare.He, as well as Spike and Giles behind him visibly paled and got a hunted scared look in their eyes.Reacting on instinct, Spike exclaimed at the young man in front of him, "Don't yell at her you fool!She's a god for cryin' out loud!"Then, going with the same instinct, he slapped the zeppo on the back of the head.It took about a second for Xander to react, crying out in the pain of the attack, but it took about another minute for Spike, and everybody else to react to something else.

Seeing the young dark haired man cry out in pain was worth it, more than worth it for the ego-abused vampire, especially since after he didn't feel any paralyzing mind-wrenching shock of pain shoot through his head after he did it. Once the realization of that fact shot through him, he was shocked, but not by pain, by an over-compelling sense to laugh in pure joy.And so he did.

Everybody turned to look at him like he was insane, as he laughed like one, and then the realization came to them as well.She had really done it.She had removed the one thing that guaranteed them protection from a creature that was invited into every one of their homes and had at one point tried to kill each and every one of them.Now they were at his mercy.The next thing that Spike did was not, to say the least, unexpected, but was surprising nevertheless.

He hit Xander again, in the exact same spot.Xander, hurting from the shear force of the blow cried out again.Spike only grinned as the same bubbling joy resulted within him.When Xander stood straight again, Spike, grinning like the insane Cheshire cat, flat out decked him with a punch that might have broken something.Luckily for Xander, Joshua was the one to help him up.

But before the young god-to-be could get steady on his feet, Spike attacked him again and this time didn't let up as he pummeled and kicked Xander as the boy curled up in pain on the floor."Hey!" Anya voiced protest as she finished her third cupcake from the tray.The three young women were almost finished with the refilled food tray, the most already consumed by Buffy, with a close second of Willow."Just don't kill him Spike.I'm marrying him in like three weeks." The ex-demon spoke around the food in her mouth.

Spike just laughed at the absolute joy of what he was doing.Finally, after feeling something solidly break after one of Spike's kicks, Xander called out rather weakly, "Buffy, ya wanna put a leash on him or some-tin…?"

Before Spike could throw the next punch, in an annoyed and authoritative voice, Buffy called out, "Spike."The bleach blond vampire looked up at his blond mother, a smile plastered to his pale face.Buffy shot him the same look that had gotten Xander in so much trouble, and his face fell, and he slowly backed away, his arms up in surrender.When he looked back to Xander, who was being healed and helped up by Joshua the Archangel, a wide grin easily worked its way back onto his mouth.A slight clearing of a throat from Buffy immediately removed it.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"Now you have to let Xander hit you," Buffy told him.All the men in the room looked up at her at that statement.

"What?" Alexander, Spike, and even Joshua asked as one.

"It's the rules.Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, punch for a punch, kick for a kick." Buffy explained, as she took the last cupcake, which was followed by whines from the girls until she refilled the tray, this time with heart shaped cherry filled doughnuts.All three squealed in excitement.Joshua squinted his eyes in suspicion.

"Actually, it's Alexander's rules.For any god that hurts another, retribution must be paid in total equality.Actually Spike, when the rule was made, you actually helped him with it.So unless you want to wait for Xander to become Alexander the God of Justice before he pays you back for that, then let him hit you just as hard."

The two then looked to the Archangel, to see if he could provide any translation, and he glanced strangely at his sister, who kept a straight face, while scarfing it.Then he turned to the other two men and answered them."Well, she's right about the rules, but I really don't think that, as, well…Earthlings, that Alexander and Spike need to be following something that hasn't even been done for over two thousand years!"

Before Buffy could respond, he continued."Another thing is, Spike has to be sorry for what he did, and fully willing to take whatever punishment that Alexander deems fit.Since there was no lasting harm, thanks to me by the way, I really don't think that there should be anymore, except to maybe put the chip back in…"

"NO!" Spike shouted.Then he fell on his knees, begging, before Xander, Alexander, his uncle."Xander…Alexander…whoever!Please, I'll do anything, take anything, kill anything, NOT kill everything, but please, please, PLEASE, don't put that chip back in my head!I'll do anything!Anything, you hear me!ANYTHING!Just keep it away from me!"

Feeling an untimely bout of pity and compassion for the vampire that had somehow over the past few months become his reluctant friend, he lifted Spike forcefully from the floor by his lapels and looked the bleach blonde man in the eye."Spike…I forgive you." Was all he said.And then he walked over to Anya, who was busy trying to devour two doughnuts in her one mouth, grabbed her by the arm and led her willingly, but whimpering over her lost doughnuts, out the shop and presumably home and to bed.

In the wake of their departure, they left quite a stunned audience, except for maybe the women who were eating a refilled tray of heart shaped raspberry cookies."What…what did he mean by that?" Spike asked, feeling like he had missed something important.

"He forgave you," Buffy answered.

"For hitting him?" Spike felt lost.

"For everything," she replied, before grabbing another cookie.

"What do you mean…" Spike looked at the Archangel, who only gave him a soulful eye, and then at the door that Alexander had just left through.He looked back at Buffy, and back at Joshua, and went back and forth between them for a moment before finishing, "…everything?"Landing a lasting gaze at the visitor from the heavens.

Joshua nodded, but he did not smile.

Spike didn't know what to think.Nobody had ever forgiven him before.Well, maybe Buffy, but that was just for the things he had done to her, and usually just the one or two recent things.Never had anybody, in his whole un-life, ever…forgiven him…for……everything.He needed to think about this."I gotta think about this…" he trailed as he turned to the back and started to make his way out.He was halted by a question from Ripper, er…uh, Giles.

"Spike, I do trust it that you will be here tomorrow morning?" the younger, yet older looking Brit asked.Spike stopped, and without turning around, simply nodded his head, and then disappeared from the shop for the night.

"Come on you two," Buffy vanished the tray, eliciting groans from the two girls she'd been feeding."Time to go home."Buffy led them by the arm until they stood before her eldest brother."I don't suppose you mind giving us all a lift, huh Joshua?" Buffy asked, the cutest little girl smile in her eyes.Joshua chuckled and hugged his shorter sister good night, before sending her off with her two sisters back to the Summer's house for sleep.

"What do you think it was that she was feeding them?" Giles asked out of the blue.

"For Anya?Not that hard to guess.For Willow and Dawn, I can only guess." Joshua replied.

"Well?"

"An Aphrodisiac mixed with a mild to heavy sedative."

**A.N.**Well, I hope you liked this.Tell me if it was good, bad, needs work, or just respond to my challenge for help.Since I want to get a good portion of the sequel written before I post it, it's going to be a few weeks before I _can_ post it.But I'm working on other stories that I hope you'll enjoy as much, if not more, than what I have got here.By the way, if anybody wants my e-mail, all they have to do is write a Review asking for me to release it, and I'll do it.I'm starting to love your input.And even if its to say that my writing sucks, I think I'd still want to hear it.Have a good one!


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